Beloved
by ItsOverWhenItsOver
Summary: [[Please do not read. Currently in the process of a full rewrite (see 'My Beloved'), and WILL BE TAKEN DOWN]]
1. Chapter 1

**Beloved**

Fred Weasley was born twice. Once as the loving son and brother tragically lost, and a second time, trapped inside the mind of his twin brothers daughter, seeing what she saw, hearing what she heard, feeling what she felt, unable to do anything but watch and wait. He lay, invisible to all for 16 long years. Then something happened to Roxanne. Something so terrible that just being forced to witness it jolted him out of his silence.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

It started just like any other Hogwarts day; Roxy woke up earlier than everybody else in her dorm, get dressed, and went down to have some breakfast. She ate her toast in silence, not thinking about anything in particular. I think I was the only person who knew about this side of her. The quiet, secluded side, that vanished as soon as there was any sign of any of her friends or cousins approaching. I listened intently as she contemplated on what she and Lily were going to do in Hogsmede that day.

_Hmmmmm, I think we'll go to Honeydukes first, then when we know no-one's looking we'll go into Zonko's. _

Before their third Year, George had lectured her and her brother, Freddie (named after me!), telling them there would be punishments for anyone caught buying from his biggest Rivals. Before I died; me and George ran a Joke shop together. It was Magnificent, everything we'd ever wanted in our lives, but, of course, all good things come to an end.

_Maybe we'll try and get into the shrieking Shack. Freddie said that there were ghosts in there. How Awesome? Then maybe we can go see if we can find Graham and Scorpius anywhere. Merlin, he's sexy. No. NO... I do not fancy Graham… He is sexy though…. SHUT UP BRAIN!_

Roxanne had been nurturing a crush on the best friend of Draco Malfoy's son for the last three years. I laughed at her internal argument. Suddenly she stiffened, looking around to see where the disembodied laughing had come from.

_Hello? Roxy? Can you hear me? I'm your uncle Fred. I've been trapped in your head for your entire life trying to find a way to break through._

Occasionally there would be a moment where I would laugh, or shout, and, just for a second, she would hear me. But as soon as I tried to form real words -by now usually a blank, emotionless long-ago decided on sentence- the moment would go, and I'd be just a silent voice again. On times like this, I didn't know whether to laugh, or cry.

Deciding the laugh must have come from one of the pupils sat around her, she carried on into her fantasies. Why, Lord, am I cursed to be trapped inside such an imaginative teenager? Boys- If you've ever seen a teenage girl staring off into space, and wondered what she was thinking about; Trust me. You'd rather not know. *retching*

Thankfully, she was jolted out of her pornographic fantasy by a hand dropping onto her shoulder. It was Lily.

"Are you done?" She asked, "I'm not eating Breakfast. Saving room for when we go to Honeydukes."

Roxy smiled, "Yeah, sure. Let's go."

* * *

><p>Roxy was alone when she entered the shrieking Shack. All of her friends had made hurried excuses and ran off as soon as the name was mentioned.<p>

_Chickens, _she thought as she entered through a smashed window, glad to be out of the harsh November winds.

_I quite agree, _I replied silently.

She walked over to a dusty grand piano, and pressed down one of the keys. The noise was loud and out of tune, and when she looked at her finger it was caked in dust. I don't think I've ever been more proud of the little delinquent than when she first stepped into that house.

It was when she began to walk up the stairs that I became frightened. How did she not feel it? We were one body, one person, and yet she could not feel my terror, or hear my frantic cries.

_Roxy, please go back. PLEASE!_

She could not hear the deep male voices murmuring to each other. She was too busy concentrating on how cool the others would think she was after this. She reached the top step, and pushed open the door.

_ROXY!_

That time, she heard my voice. But this was no time to rejoice, because it was her sharp intake of breath that alerted them to her presence.

For a few seconds all I could see was blackness. And then.

"Oh, look, it's a pretty little girl."

_Nonononononononono. Not Roxy. Not Roxy._

I could feel everything that she felt, and I tried so hard to throw comforting emotions at her. It wasn't going to work though.

"Please let me go. Please. PLEASE."

_Its Ok Roxy, I'm here for you. I've always been here for you. It'll be OK. I promise._

All I could feel was Roxy's fear. My fear. Because this was happening to me too. The last thing I heard, before I drifted away, was Roxy's voice, talking back to me for the first time in sixteen years.

_I love you dad._

_ I love you too_

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><p><strong>Hello. Going back to re-edit the first chapter ((as of 23:44, 2506/12)) because both my writing and spelling is horrendous, but... wow. It's like re-living the past. This is cool. I can do this. I'm re-reading the story and editing spellings and just a few little details. No dramatic plot changes. I just felt like the spellings and etc were putting people off. So here; take the first chapter. Take it and go! :)**_  
><em>


	2. Chapter 2

**Beloved**

**Chapter 2**

I had the vague impression of floating. It was Dark, and I was scared. Though I could still feel what was happening to Roxy's Body, I was separate from it somehow. Still on the battlefield, but away from the action.

_Hello? Is anybody there? Help me. Please._

Suddenly, all my pain and Fear melted away. All that mattered was that I help Roxy. That I made sure she was OK.

_Roxy? I… you've never met me, but I've been there you're entire life._

_Dad? Is that you?_

_No. I'm your Uncle Fred. Remember, Dad told you about me. I died. I've been trapped inside of your head for your entire life; like a tiny voice in the back of your mind that you can't hear. I see everything you see, feel what you feel, hear what you hear._

_Do you watch me on the toilet?_

I had to admire her frankness.

_I can't help it. I see what you see. _

_In the shower?_

_I can't help it._

_What about when me and Colin…_

_Yep. I was definitely there for that one. Not going to forget it in a hurry. Scarred me for life. I was young and innocent before you. _

_You were a Weasley twin. From what Mum's told me; young and innocent aren't words that should spring to mind._

I had to laugh. She was Brave and funny, and it showed a lot more in actual conversation with her, more than when you could hear her actual thoughts. I wondered…

_You know what's happening to you?_

She paused. _Yes._

At that exact moment, a loud scream echoed around us.

_Was that me? _Roxy asked. For the first time betraying the fear she felt.

_I think so... Roxy, I… I'm sorry. _I didn't know how to react. How do you comfort someone when this is happening? _Roxy, I promise. Whatever happens, I'll be there for you. You won't be alone through, and after this. _

I could feel the rush of the ground coming back towards me. We were returning to her body.

_Fred… Thank you._

The return to her body was a shock. Like going from walking on a hot summers evening to getting an Ice bath. Not pleasant. We were so aware of what was happening. It was so lucid. I felt dirty. Exposed. These were unfamiliar feelings. I had never lived a life where I could be used in such a way. And what made it so much worse was to feel Roxy suffering beside me. I knew that every jolt of pain I felt was nothing compared to her.

"Fred." She winced out loud, "Are they going to kill us?"

_I don't know, Roxy, but I promise it's going to be OK._

At long last it was over. We Lay, curled up against a wall, while they decided whether or not to kill us.

_Does death hurt, Fred?_

_No. _I lied.

"No," we heard one of the men say, "We were going to leave today anyway. Let's just get our stuff and move on to the next place."

They heard Roxy's terrified sigh of relief.

"On second thoughts. CRUCIO!"

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><p><strong>Wow, looking back as I go through and re-edit, this one is a short one. They do get longer, so just bear with me as I get to the others.<br>All the love,  
>Hannah :)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

They had left around three hours ago. Roxy was still lying pressed against the wall, the tears that streamed from her eyes mixed with the blood that covered her face and neck. I stayed silent, she wanted to be alone. She was thinking about the cruciatus curse, wondering if there was ever anything that could hurt more than that. But I knew something that could. I let Roxy into my memories. I showed her the worst day of my life.

_It was dark when I arrived back at the burrow. Dad was by my side as we dismounted our brooms and ran into the house. I saw Lupin, Harry, Hermione, Kingsley and Mum gathered around the sofa. I approached slowly, guessing someone was hurt. As I neared the sofa, Mum broke away from the group and threw her arms around me. The gap where she had been sat allowed me a clear view at the face of the injured redhead. Pain flared up all over my body. I couldn't speak. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. All I could see was George laying there, the side of his face covered in blood, his chest rising and falling rapidly. It felt as if someone was tearing out my insides, George couldn't… Wouldn't… What would I do? Where would I go? I shoved mum away, and knelt down next to the man whose face had once mirrored my own. I cradled his head in my arms, oblivious to the blood that now covered my hands. All that mattered was George, I tried to speak, but the words got stuck in my throat. . Please don't let him be dead. Please don't let him be dead. A single tear flowed down my cheek, and fell onto his face. His eyes fluttered open._

I stopped the memory there. Roxy was thinking about her Dad. How much worse for him it must have been when I really died. We sat in silence for a while longer. I made a few attempts to comfort her, but every time I spoke, she shrank away.

_Roxy, look, it's dark outside. People will be looking for you. You've decided you don't want anyone to know what happened, and I respect that. But if you don't leave now people will come and find you. They'll ask questions. _My pleading was useless. She was not ready to leave yet. Both of us knew it. _Please Roxy. What are you going to tell them? If they find you like this, they'll know something's wrong. _

I felt her feebly trying to move her arms. But the effort was just too much. Roxy let out an exasperated sigh, and we slumped, unconscious.

I was vaguely aware of the voices getting closer.

"Are you sure the Potter girl said she was going in there? It doesn't seem like the type of place for a schoolgirl to hang out."

"Weren't you even listening? Her dad is George Weasley, y'know? Weasley's wizard wheezes."

"That would explain it."

"Holy crap! I've found her! I've found her! Get in here now!"

Strong arms touched her neck, checking for a pulse.

"Roxanne? Don't worry, you're safe now, it's all going to be OK. WHERE IS THIS BLOOD COMING FROM? CHANG, GO AND GET THE SCHOOL TO CONTACT HER PARENTS. I think she's been tortured."

"Help me." Roxy's voice was feeble, barely even a whisper.

"It's alright, you're safe. I promise."

* * *

><p>We fell unconscious again.<p>

When we awoke we could hear sobbing. I wanted to look around and see what was happening, but Roxy did not move, or even react to my voice. Maybe she couldn't hear me anymore. That thought depressed me, and we lay still, and listened to what was going on. For a few minutes all we could hear was the sobs, I think it was Angelina, but I can't be sure. Suddenly the doors banged open.

"Where is she?" George's voice was choked with tears, "What happened to her?"

"I assure you, Mr Weasley, Roxanne has been checked over thoroughly by Madam Abbott, and she is going to be fine." Professor Grimble was calm and reassuring, but I knew this would not be enough to soothe George. I knew that in his mind, this was a vivid reminder of what it was like to lose me. He didn't want to lose Roxy as well.

"GOING TO BE FINE?" He shrieked, "THEY USED THE CRUCIATUS CURSE ON HER!"

"We know nothing for certain, Mr Weasley, beside her we found her wand. The last spell it used was, indeed, the cruciatus curse." George began to wail, "BUT." He said, cutting off George, "We do not know who performed the curse, or who it was performed on."

"Look at her." George replied, more calmly, "Do you really believe nothing's happened to her? That she just fell asleep in the shrieking shack?"

Professor Grimble did not reply to George, because at that moment, Madam Abbott rushed in and hissed loudly, "This is a hospital and this girl needs rest. Now be quiet. Or do you need me to go and fetch the headmaster?"

"Yes." George said, making no attempt to be any quieter. "I need to ask him why students are being allowed to walk off by themselves and get into trouble like this. I cannot believe that the school has nothing in place to stop this from happening, what if she's been- been raped?" His voice lowered to a choked sob.

Roxy gasped. Everyone in the room went quiet. Then George rushed over to her side.

He clutched her hands, and I could feel that his fingers were still covered in dust from working on new potions in the shop. He must have apparated here as soon as he heard.

"Roxy, I promise, everything's going to be OK. No-one's ever going to touch you again."

She opened her dark eyes, and I looked into George's face. His cheeks were covered with tears, and his huge brown eyes were filled with all of the pain and hurt that had built up inside him since my death. I couldn't bear to look at him. I screamed at Roxy to look away. Close her eyes, anything; but she did not. Roxy was brave, and strong. But I was weak. I cried as she stared into her father's eyes. I felt so guilty. My death had caused him so much pain. It might have even been my fault Roxy went into the Shack in the first place; I had encouraged her. She might not have been able to hear me, but I know that my moods sometimes affect her, and vice versa.

"Roxy. Please. Tell me what they did to you."

Her voice did not tremble when she spoke. She was so, so brave. "I went into the house." She said, "I thought it might make James and Fred think I was cool. But there were people in there. They… The cruciatus curse." Only then did her voice begin to wobble.

All traces of George's rage were gone now. And only kindness showed. "Did they rape you Roxy?" He asked. And I knew what Roxy was going to tell him. She was going to lie. She was going to pretend it was all OK.

_Roxy, please tell him the truth. He can help. He can make it better._

"No." She had ignored me. She had lied. But it was a kind lie. We watched some of the pain disappear from George's face as he absorbed the word she had said.

"Now that that is over with I insist you let her get some sleep. She has been through a huge ordeal and needs to rest."

"Wow. She's so much like Madam Pomfrey."

Roxanne gasped. Because she had not spoken the words that had come from her lips. Somehow, I had broken through. Roxy was panicking, almost hyperventilating because, until that point, she had been trying to convince herself that I had been a figment of her imagination. Something her brain had subconsciously invented to help her through the ordeal. But now I had spoken. Now I was real. And I terrified her.

"How do you know Madam Pomfrey, Roxy?" George asked confusedly, "She died Years before you were born."

"I… I…"

She was saved by Madam Abbot insisting that she was too tired and needed sleep. George still looked puzzled when she lay back, and said, "You'll still be here when I wake up, won't you?"

"Of course I will. I'll stay for as long as you want."

Roxy closed her eyes, but I knew she had no intention of going to sleep. She was searching for me inside her head. Trying to see me, trying to hear me.

_Are you there?_

_Yes._

_What do you want, why are you here?_

I so desperately wanted to say 'I have come for your soul'. But, given the day she had had, I didn't think that was what she needed. _I don't know why I'm here. _

_Does everyone come back inside someone after they die?_

_I don't know. Maybe. Or maybe it's because I have unfinished business or something._

_What would your unfinished business be?_

_George. _Was the only answer I could give that made sense.

_I don't understand._

I showed her memories. Me and George playing pranks on Percy, me and George on the Hogwarts express age 11, me and George setting off the giant fireworks display when we finally left Hogwarts. Our shop's grand opening, the 10 galleons Ron owed me when George and Angelina finally got together, the last few minutes George and I spent together before the battle of Hogwarts. I stopped before the last memory. She didn't need to see how it ended.

_I'm sorry, _she said.

_You have nothing to apologise for. It's not your fault. I wasn't concentrating. I was distracted, trying to be funny, I suppose Percy blames himself as well, but George is the one that will have suffered the most. That was why I was killing myself back then. That was why I wanted you to look away from him. It made me think of what he must have gone through after I died. Do you remember when you were about four? You were playing with Lego with your Dad and you just suddenly said, "_Uncle Fred loves you Daddy_." He just burst into tears, and so did you and you had no Idea why._

_I don't remember, _she said, intrigued_. Why?_

_I really don't know where I was going with that one, but Roxy, just remember, I've been here for your whole life. There's nothing you can't talk with me about. I'm here for you._

_What If I don't want to talk to you?_

Her tone both surprised and scared me. I tried to search her thoughts to find out what I had done to provoke such a reaction, but it was as though a barrier had slid down between us. She had blocked me out of her mind. I could still hear what was going on around us, but I couldn't hear her. I pleaded with her to let me back in, but she wouldn't. Eventually, exhausted, I fell asleep to the sound of Angelina Weasley's sobs.

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><p><strong>3rd chapter re-edited as of 2506/12.  
>I really hope you're enjoying the story so far and keep on reading.<br>Hannah :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Are you sure you're going to be OK Roxy? Because there's no shame in wanting to have a few more weeks off, you know that, right?"

It had been four weeks since that trip to Hogsmede, and Roxy had finally managed to persuade her Dad that she was ready to go back to school.

Angelina put her arm around Roxy. "If she says that she's ready, then she's ready. Let her go, George."

"But there's only one week left until Christmas, what's the point?" He asked. Apart from Roxy, George had suffered the most from what had happened. We had lain awake at night, listening to George crying. Roxy had cried too, but she had not let anyone see her cry, she didn't want them to know how hurt she was, she knew it would only make it worse for them.

_Roxy, tell him. Tell him you don't want to go back. Tell him you want to stay here. You've been so brave Roxy, but you're not ready. Please, stay._

_Leave me alone. _She snapped, _I do want to go back, I miss my friends._

_You can't lie to the voice in your head._

_I can lie to them, though._

"Roxy? Honey? Do you want to go back?" George was pleading with her not to leave.

"Yes, Dad. I'm going mad in this house. I need to get out, see everyone again. Live."

"C'mon Roxy," Angelina said, "If we leave now you'll be there in time for dinner."

Roxy grabbed her trunk, and a handful of flu powder, and stepped into the fireplace. Her hands were trembling as she called out, "HOGWARTS!"

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><p>She had not gone to dinner in the great hall after her parents had left, like she had promised. Instead she sat in her dormitory, taking clothes out of her trunk and hanging them in her wardrobe. She enjoyed the feeling of having a task to do, something concrete she could work for. I didn't bother telling her the simple spell she could have used to do it instantly; she would only put back up the barrier between us.<p>

It scared me just how much she hated me. On the few conversations we had had, she had not even attempted to hide it from me.

_I don't hate you. I'm afraid of you. _I was surprised that she had been listening to my internal monologue.

_Why? _Even though I already knew the answer I thought it would be best for her if I let her get it off her chest.

_Because you understand me. You know what I want. There's nothing I can tell you that you don't already know. You helped me all the way through… it, even though you were hurting just as bad as me. I don't like how you're so much like Dad; it's weird having him inside my head, and how you love Mum, even though you know you can't._

I knew she was surpassing a little of the truth, but we both knew that I knew what It was, so we left the unspoken unspoken.

I was trying to formulate an answer when there was a yell from the dorm entrance.

"ROXY! There you are! We've been looking for you everywhere. James is throwing a welcome back party for you. Everyone's brought all of their food supplies down to the common room, and we've got some of your Dad's fireworks."

Roxy forced a smile, thankful that the light wouldn't allow Rose to see her tears. None of the rest of her family had been told what had happened; Roxy had insisted that her parents let no-one know. As far as Rose was concerned, she had collapsed in Hogsmeade, and been in St. Mungo's for the last 4 weeks with spattergroit.

"Sure, coming. Sounds Great."

* * *

><p>It was 11 o'clock, and the party was still in full swing. Despite everything, Roxy was having a good time. The loud music seemed to block out the memories of what had happened, and she discovered that she was actually quite a good dancer.<p>

"OI!" James' voice was magically amplified by his wand, "Is everyone sure they have no more food? We're running dangerously low on cockroach clusters."

Everyone shook their heads.

_Roxy, I have an Idea, tell James to go get Harry's cloak._

_But… What?_

_Trust me._

James was as confused as she had been, but still agreed to meet her just outside the portrait hole. We were sat there waiting, while he went to get the cloak.

_What's this about?_

_Just trust me. I am going to show you how to throw the best party ever._

_OK._

James arrived, and threw the cloak over both of us.

"Why are we going to the Hufflepuff common room?" He asked, as we headed down the stairs beside the great Hall.

_Fred, where are we actually going?_

_The kitchens._

_Awesome, I've always wanted to see the kitchens. I'm surprised James and Al don't already know where they are._

I told her to stop next to the small painting of a fruit bowl that stood opposite the door to the Hufflepuff common room.

_Tell him to tickle the pear._

She told him, and just as he reached forward to touch the painting, "OW!" I was not sure whether the cry was made by me or Roxy. All I knew was that a sudden splitting pain had struck through her head. It felt like her brain was being crushed.

"OW, OW, AAAAHHHHH!"

"Roxy! Are you ok?"

She pulled herself out from under the cloak and began running down the corridor, back towards Gryffindor house.

"I'm fine, just got a headache. I… I'm going back to the common room. Get Winky to help you carry some of the stuff back up if you can't get it all."

She fled, biting down hard on her lip to stop herself from screaming in pain. We were on the fourth floor now, and she was still running. The pain was unbearable, neither of us could think straight. She stumbled sideways and hit a wall, falling to the Floor with a crash.

"ROXANNE WEASLEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP AT THIS TIME?"

Professor Grimble was stalking towards us; beside him was Professor Butler, the scrawny transfiguration teacher who had replaced McGonagall.

Roxy clutched at her head, doing all she could to stop herself from howling in pain.

"Roxanne, are you alright?" Both teachers already knew what had happened to Roxy, Professor Grimble being head of Gryffindor House, and there that day in the hospital wing, and Professor Butler, being the deputy head, had been there for the conversation between the headmaster and Roxy's parents. She smiled and bent down to put her hand on Roxy's shoulder.

"Roxy, what's wrong?"

_What's wrong? _She yelled inside her head. _I've only been raped and tortured you stupid old bitch._

"Nothing miss, I've just got a headache."

"Do you want to go and spend the night in the hospital wing?" She asked kindly.

"NO!" Roxy was petrified be the idea, "I mean- No thank you miss. I'll just go back to Gryffindor house and take an aspirin."

"You know, suffering from headaches and flashbacks after going through severe emotional trauma is not uncommon. None of us will judge you If you ever feel you need to talk, you know I'm here, and I, Professor Grimble, and every other teacher in this school is determined to help you through this. I was going to tell you this tomorrow morning, but they think they've tracked down the men that did it. They're going in tomorrow to arrest them. Everything will turn out ok. It will get better, I promise."

Professor Butler stood up, and left, Professor Grimble following in her wake. As soon as they had turned the corner, Roxy sank back down into the wall, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Severe emotional trauma?" James appeared, as if out of thin air, pushing the cloak off him and onto the floor, and we could see that he was laden with sweets of every kind. "What happened to you Roxy? Is this why you've been off? Have you even been ill at all?"

"I… I…"

"What did they do to you Roxy? I swear. I'll kill them if they hurt you!"

"No, James, it was nothing like that." Roxy was not the one talking now. She was huddled inside her mind, trying to escape from everyone and everything. "When I was in Hogsmede I was mugged. They stole my money and hit me over the head. Mum and Dad insisted I spend a few weeks off school to get over it. But I'm fine now. I just got a headache all of a sudden."

"Are you sure you're ok?"

Everyone knew what a terrible liar Roxy was, and how over-protective George could be, so he instantly believed me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You heard what she sad, they'll catch the guys that did it and it will all be fine."

"Ok." He helped us to our feet, and suddenly Roxy was back in control.

"James, would you mind not telling anyone? Because I really am fine, I don't want people to make a big fuss over nothing."

She kept her head down while she lied.

"Yes, of course, but just so you know, if you need me, I'm here."

"Thanks James"

"No problem, now help me carry these sweets back. I sent the house elves ahead with the rest of them, but I'm still carrying way too much."

He shoved half of the sweets into Roxy's arms, and they set off, back along the corridor to the common room.

_Thanks for that Fred._

_ No problem. Do you think he'll tell anyone?_

_ I don't think so. By the way, that was a great story you came up with._

_ Yeah, well, I'm used to having to make up stories on the spot, me and your Dad got into our fair share of trouble at school. Just make the most of the party, Roxy, but if you need me, I'm here._

_What is it with people thinking I need them? I don't need anyone. Leave me alone, I never wanted you here in the first place._

The barrier slammed back down again, leaving me alone to my thoughts. I should probably have seen that one coming; Roxy had always hated it when anyone tried to help her.

Outside the portrait hole were lots of Gryffindor's waiting to congratulate James on the discovery of the school kitchens. The house elves had arrived a few minutes earlier than us, and everyone obviously credited the discovery to James. I didn't need to be able to hear her thoughts to tell that Roxy was furious that he got the credit. She slumped in her chair in the corner, and watched the party go by. People were having so much fun they seemed to have forgotten that it was her party. This pissed her off more than ever.

Half an hour passed, and we were watching James dancing with an attractive girl from his year. After a while he seemed to remember something, and glanced around. He didn't see Roxy watching him, and, confident that she had gone to bed, he went over to Freddie, and they moved over to a corner of the room, where James began to tell him something that made him turn pale.

_How could he? _Roxy was furious. James had betrayed her. She began ranting at them inside her head, forgetting her hate for me.

Fred was now yelling at James, and we could just about hear him over the music.

"WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME STRAIGHT AWAY? THIS IS MY SISTER WE'RE TALKING ABOUT! HOW _DARE_ NO-ONE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!"

"That's not the worst part. I think something else happened that she's not told me about. She's a terrible liar, and they wouldn't keep her off school for four weeks just for that."

Fred's face went all flat. He looked like he was about to cry. Then he saw Roxy. We were now standing up, facing them. Roxy now had a look of absolute hate on her face. And all of her rage was now directed at James.

"Roxy wait!"

Fred's voice was wasted, because we were already halfway up the stairs. The common room was silent, and just before Roxy slammed the door to the dormitory we heard Fred's voice again.

"LILY! DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?"

* * *

><p><strong>Yuhuh, you guessed it. It's me from the future editing chapter four!<br>Wahoo!  
>Edited as of 1606/12  
>I really do hope you're enjoying things so far. Gold star to anyone who reads until the end.<br>Love Hannah :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Dear Roxy,

I hope you're having a very good Christmas, and that you like all of the presents we sent you. Teddy says hi, and Granny Molly says she'll send you a slice of her Christmas cake. Well, what's left of it after James and Fred have had their share. You know how they get when there's lots of food around. Aunt Ginny hade to make three more trifles after they snuck into the kitchen and ate the first five.

Just so that you know, I forgive you for wanting to spend Christmas at school. You've been through hell, and I can understand you not wanting to have a big Jolly family Christmas. I appreciate that you don't want everyone to know yet, so your father and I have gone along with the lie you told James. You know that George nearly cried with happiness when he found out you had learned how to lie properly? I still don't know why I married that bloke. Anyway, Roxy, we've had an owl from Professor Grimble, he wants you to come home for New Year, and I agree. We all miss you, and we're so worried about you. We've arranged for you to travel to The Burrow by tomorrow, whether you like it or not. I've talked to Freddie, and he promises not to go all big brotherly again. But I think that you should tell him what really happened, his reaction only proves that he deserves to know, and if you don't tell him, then I will. But you know he needs to hear it from you.

Please owl me straight away so I know how you feel about all of this. I'm your mother and you can talk to me. You know that, right?

Merry Christmas, I love you.

From Mum.

P.S. We have a big Christmas surprise waiting for you; it's not something we could send by owl post so we've got it here. Trust me; it's worth coming home just for this.

_Ten Galleons it's a Puppy._

_Shut up Fred._

_It is a puppy though._

Roxy sighed, folded up the letter and looked up at Professor Grimble. They were sat in the great Hall eating Dinner. It was Christmas day, and Roxy was the only one not enjoying herself.

"Roxy, you will report to my office tomorrow morning at ten o'clock sharp with your things, and I shall escort you home."

_How did he not marry Professor McGonagall? How perfect a match would they be?_

Roxy giggled; McGonagall had retired at the end of her second year, so she knew exactly what I was talking about.

"Is there something amusing you would like to share with us, Roxanne?"

"No sir, nothing sir."

Roxy stuffed the letter into her pocket and poked her Treacle tart with her spoon, suddenly nauseated by the idea of food, even though she was starving hungry. She was shivering.

"Roxy, are you ok?" Colin Creevey II was holding her arm, and had a concerned expression on his face.

She jerked her arm away as suddenly as if she had touched a burning stove. Standing up she mumbled, "Yeah, it's nothing." and ran from the hall, back to her dormitory.

Just as she reached the portrait hole, she changed her mind and ran the other way, towards the Owlery.

When she arrived she found Fred's owl, Britney, and took a spare piece of parchment from her pocket.

_Roxy wait!_

She paused, _Why should I listen to you? _She said spitefully.

_Because you'll regret this. Tell your Mum you'll come home for New Year and that she can tell everyone what happened, they're going to find out anyway. Best they know sooner rather than later, you can get it over with. And then write a letter to Teddy._

_Teddy? Why Teddy?_

_You need to tell someone exactly what happened, the whole thing. And you trust him more that you trust anyone else._

_What? Dear Teddy, hope you're having a good Christmas, by the way, I got raped and tortured last month, please don't tell my parents. Merry Christmas, Love Roxy. _

_You know that's not what I meant. Say you need to tell him something important, and that it's vital he tell no-one. Then tell him once you get home._

Begrudgingly, she agreed that that was the best plan. After we had watched Britney soar off into the sky, we returned to Roxy's Dorm, and began packing.

It was only 8 o'clock, but Roxy decided to go to bed. We lay for around half an hour, talking about nothing in particular, before sleep finally took over.

* * *

><p><em> It was cold, and I was shivering, my unkempt red hair had grown long over the years, and it now covered my eyes. There was another Body laid next to me, shivering also. Roxy was clutching onto my hand, and whispering my name, over and over. I tried to stand, but my ankle was fastened to the wall with a chain. I put my arms around Roxy, and she began to cry. I opened my mouth to try to comfort her, but I could not speak. Suddenly, a dark figure was standing over us. They grabbed Roxy and tried to pull her out of the room. She was kicking and screaming, and calling out to me to save her. I could do nothing. She was dragged away, and I could do was sit there, listening to her screams of pain, calling out to her, telling her it would be OK. Crying. Praying that they would hurt me instead, anyone but Roxy, anyone but Roxy.<em>

"PLEASE!"

We sat bolt upright in Roxy's bed, gasping for breath. We were shaking; terrified of the dream we had shared. Tears streamed from her eyes, and she fought to stop herself screaming out loud.

_Shhhh, Shhh, its ok Roxy._ I crooned, _It was just a nightmare, just a nightmare._

Then we caught sight of the clock.

"Shit, it's five to ten!"

She jumped out of bed, hurriedly dressed, grabbed her trunk, and ran all the way to Professor Grimble's office.

"You're late."

"Sorry Professor." She gasped, "I slept in."

"I can see. Take a minute to catch your breath, and then we can leave."

"Thanks Professor."

After a minute or so, Roxy grabbed the flu powder and walked into the fireplace, "The Burrow." she said, a little less enthusiastically than she normally would.

* * *

><p>"So Roxy, I understand you wanted to tell me something."<p>

Teddy's smile was kind and reassuring, but even so, Roxy was terrified. How would he react? What if he told her parents? What if he told everyone?

"Well, Teddy, you know why I was off school for four weeks?"

"Yes, I know."

"Well, I wasn't just-" She paused, "You know, tortured."

His face went from curious to concerned.

"It was a lie I told Dad so he didn't find out what- what r-really happened." She was shaking a little.

"Roxy." He sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. "Tell me what they did to you."

She told him the whole thing. Leaving out me of course, he would've thaught she was crazy. When she got to the part where she lied to George about that they had done, she began to cry. Teddy had his arm around her, was stroking her hair and murmuring words of comfort to her. When she was done talking, he stood up, and made to go inside, out of the snow.

"Wait. Please don't tell anyone. I… Dad's hurt enough as it is. You can't do that to him. He can't know."

"I'm not going to tell him Roxy, you are. They need to know." He said sincerely.

"Well where are you going now?" I ask almost pleadingly.

"Inside, I think your aunt Hermione wants to talk to you."

Sure enough, Hermione was there, in the doorway.

_What does SHE want? _Roxy had never made any secret of her dislike for her Aunt. She thaught Hermione was irritating and obnoxious.

_She was tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange when she was 18. She probably thinks she can make you feel better or something._

Roxy rolled her eyes, and prepared to pretend to be comforted by her Aunt.

"Hello Roxy, I thought I should come and talk to you."

_Here we go. _Roxy thought.

* * *

><p>It had been three days since Angelina had told the rest of the family her version of what had happened, leaving out what Teddy knew, and Roxy had gotten used to being given anxious smiles and hugs whenever she talked to anyone. The whole family was staying at the burrow, and Roxy was sharing me and George's old bedroom with Lily, Molly II, and Rose. Roxy was sleeping on my old bed, while Rose took George's. The other two slept in big green sleeping bags on the floor. It was 2:00 a.m. and everyone was asleep, including Roxy. I could still feel her there, inside her head, but she wasn't conscious. She was dreaming about Hippogriffs, and she was happy. But while she slept, I had full control over her body.<p>

I stood up, and stepped over Lily and Molly. They didn't stir. I crept down the stairs and into the living room. It was odd; I had walked down these stairs hundreds of times, both as Fred, and with Roxy. But this time they felt different, I was scared. When I reached the living room, I looked over at the clock. It was lying face up on the table where Dad had been trying to fix it, he thaught it was broken because ever since me and Roxy began to talk, my hand had moved away from 'lost' and started following wherever Roxy went. All of the hands now pointed to 'Home'.

I saw the piano that had been untouched since my death in the corner. I had been the only member of my family with enough patience to learn to play and even George had thaught it was stupid. Without pausing to think, I cast muffliato towards the ceiling, and sat down and began to play.

It was a song I had written myself when I was about fifteen, one of George's favourites. The song had died with me, but, occasionally, when he was in a very good mood, Roxy had heard George humming it to himself as he made breakfast.

I cried as I played. I cried for George, for Roxy, for Angelina, for Mum, for Dad, Ron, Percy, Bill, Charlie, Ginny. All that mattered was that I finish the song, for George. Because I had left him behind, and now he was suffering again because of me.

After the song had ended I felt a hand fall on my shoulder. I looked up.

"Fred?" George was staring into my eyes. I couldn't read his expression; all I could do was look into his eyes, telling him silently that I was there, that I loved him. I could feel Roxanne waking up. I knew I only had seconds left.

"George, I…"

I threw my arms around him and cried into his shoulder. He cried with me, both of us finally able to comfort each other. Then Roxy woke up.

"Dad? What's going on? Where am I? Are you crying?"

"No, honey," He said quickly, wiping away tears. "I'm just- I'm just very happy. I… I loved your uncle very much, and now I know that he loves me too."

Loves. Present tense.

"Ok…" She shakes her head. "I'm going back to bed. I'm tired."

"Alright Sweetie, that's fine."

George was still crying as Roxy stood up, and walked up the stairs away from him.

"Roxy." He called.

"Yes Dad?"

More tears poured down George's cheeks. "Tell him I say thank you."

Roxy didn't reply. She just carried on walking away, back up the stairs to my old bedroom. George knew that I was alright, that I wanted him to be happy. For sixteen years that was all I had wanted to do. But now it was done. Everything was ok again. George could finally let me go, Roxy would, slowly, get over what had happened and be ok, the rest of the family seemed happy enough. So… why was I still here?

The answer hit me like a ton of bricks. Of course, it was so obvious, and there had been other signs too. Stupid, little things we had overlooked. Oh no, oh no, oh no. It made perfect sense, perfect, terrible sense.

_Roxy, you're pregnant._

She stopped dead in the middle of the hallway.

"WHAT?"

* * *

><p><strong>You know what I like?<br>Trains.  
>And overly cheesy piano scenes! Hooray!<br>It's still me from the future right now, but past me wanted you all to know that she wasn't sure about the whole pregnancy idea, and got her friends to vote on it. This was the outcome.  
>So yeah, edited as of 2606/12  
>Like I keep saying, I really do hope that you're enjoying the story,<br>Hannah :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

She had spoken aloud, her voice echoing around the silent house.

_Roxy, you need to stay calm._

_Don't be stupid, I'm not… I can't be!_

_You know fully well you can. Look, Roxy, why else would I still be here?_

_No. There doesn't have to be a reason for everything!_

_Roxy, look at the signs, you know I'm right. Just listen, it'll all be ok._

_No. No no no no no no no no no. You're lying. You're wrong. I'm not._

_We both know I'm not lying. Just stay calm, we'll sort this all out. It's going to be fine._

She covered her face in her hands, and sank down onto the floor, weeping.

_What am I going to do Fred?_

_You're going to trust me. Now go back to bed, you need sleep. We'll get through this together._

* * *

><p>"Hello dear, how can I help you?"<p>

The kindly muggle woman was smiled down at us, obviously realising how nervous Roxy was.

"Um, can I have one Pregnancy test please?" Roxy stuttered, terrified.

The woman smiled sympathetically, "Of course dear, here you go."

She reached backwards and took the small box off the shelf directly behind her, placing it on the counter.

"Will that be all?"

"Yes. How much is that?" Roxy was now shaking with fear, her hands curled into fists.

"Don't trouble yourself dear, this one's on me. There's a toilet in the back if you need to use it."

"No, thank-you. I mean, thank you, I'll be- fine, I… Thank you." She squeaked, grabbing the box and running out of the shop.

"Poor kid, she looks barely sixteen." We heard the woman mutter to the customer behind Roxy as we ran out of the door.

At the end of the street Roxy stopped, breathing hard and bent over double.

_It's ok Roxy, you're doing fine, now let's get home and get this over with._

* * *

><p>She paced up and down the bathroom, the little blue stick clutched in her hands. I had tried to comfort her, but nothing I could say would change the situation.<p>

_It's been three minutes Roxy. _I told her.

_I know. _She answered, eyes closed, still pacing.

_Open your eyes Roxy. You already know what it says._

Her eyes opened, and then closed again. She sank down to the floor, trying hard to stop the tears that were already flowing.

A voice called up from Downstairs.

"Hello? Roxy? Are you in? It's me, Teddy. I bumped into your Mum in Diagon Alley and she said you were here by yourself. I just came along to say hi; check if you're ok."

Roxy heard the voice, but it didn't register with her. She stayed where she was, trapped inside a private nightmare.

_It's a dream. It's not real. I'll wake up in a minute and it'll all just be a sick joke._

"Roxy? Where are you? Are you ok?" We could hear Teddy searching the rooms of the house. He was scared now. He kept calling out Roxy's name in a panic. We could hear door's banging open.

"Roxy? Where are you! Please, are you ok?"

The door to the bathroom rattled, He was trying to get in.

"Roxy. ROXY! Let me in, are you ok? What's wrong? Please tell me."

He stood there, listening, and then began to shake the door again.

"I'm coming in Roxy. Alohamora."

The lock twisted sideways, and Teddy opened the door. He stood there, mouth half open, trying in vain to figure out what was going on. Then we saw his eyes rest on the plastic stick lying on the floor where it had fallen from Roxy's hands.

"Shit Roxy."

He dropped to the floor next to her and let her cry into his shoulder.

Ten minutes passed, then fifteen minutes, then half an hour.

"Roxy come with me."

She followed him numbly out of the room, and downstairs.

"Ok Roxy, we're going to wait here until your parents come home and you are going to tell them exactly what happened. I'll be here with you, and I promise it will all work out fine."

She nodded, and sat down next to him on the sofa, leaning into him and getting lost in the sweet, but slightly wolfish scent of his skin.

The silence was unbearable. I couldn't guess what was going through Teddy's mind. Roxy was absorbed in a fantasy world where none of this was real. The only things on her mine was her Potions Essay, how to win her prank war with Albus, what her Mum would make her for Dinner that evening.

Hours Passed.

_Something's wrong. Where are they?_

_I'm sure everyone's fine Roxy; it just seems to be taking so long because you're nervous._

_No, it's not. There's something else, I can feel it. Something's happened._

Roxy's fear was real. It was the same fear I had felt walking up the stairs that day in the Shack; a subconscious knowing. I could feel it too. Something really, really bad had happened and nothing would ever be the same again.

*CRACK*

"Roxy, that will be your Dad. It's going to be fine. Just swallow your fear and tell him everything. Be brave, you're a Gryffindor for a reason."

George walked in, and just by seeing his face I knew that we had been right. Teddy nudged Roxy, trying to get her to move forwards, but she stayed where she was.

George walked forwards to where we sat, and kneeled down in front of us, taking Roxy's hands and looking directly into her eyes.

"Roxy, your Granddad Arthur's dead."

No. No. No. Roxy had misheard what he said. That had to be it. There was no way Dad could be- No. No way.

Roxy was suffering beside me, her face once again buried in Teddy's shoulder.

"George," Teddy's voice was distant; he no longer sounded reassuring and calm. "Roxy has something extremely important to tell you and it's crucial that you listen to her.

"No." Roxy stood up. "Not now. Later."

She walked out of the room and upstairs, back into the bathroom, locked the door, and sat down to cry. Everything was going wrong, her life was falling apart.

"Why me? Why me?"

I wasn't even listening to her, she didn't matter, nothing mattered. Not Roxy, not the baby, not George, not Angelina, not anyone. All that Mattered was that Dad was Gone. I would never ever see him again. So many memories, all gone. Dad was what held the Weasley's together. Without him, we were nothing. What about Mum? The thought haunted me, what would she do? How would she cope?

Someone was knocking on the door. It was Freddie.

"Roxy, are you ok?" Freddie's voice was thick with tears, "Dad's going to the burrow now to see Gran; do you want to go with him?"

_Yes. Yes, Roxy. Please. George needs me. He needs us. Please._

"Fred, leave me alone. I just want to be by myself for a bit."

I wasn't sure which one of us she was talking to, probably both. Not that it mattered. Neither of us cared about anything anymore. She curled up on the floor and fell unconscious, welcoming the empty oblivion of a dreamless sleep.

Roxy walked back into the living room of the Burrow, wiping the last traces of vomit from her mouth. It was the third time she had thrown up that day, and she felt terrible.

"You ok Roxy? You look terrible." Percy was stood up, facing her; he was on his way back to the kitchen to get some more food.

"I'm fine, just feel a bit sick."

Family and friends swarmed around her, feeling her forehead and asking her questions. The Burrow was stuffed full of people, I don't think I've ever seen this many people here. I didn't know how many more people the house could take. It was Dad's wake, and everyone was desperate to find something to talk about. And if the only thing to talk about was Roxy, then so be it.

"Roxy, why don't you play us something on the piano?"

Roxy glared at her Father, wide eyed.

"I didn't know you played the piano Roxy." Angelina was now staring at her confusedly.

"I… I…"

_What do I do? Why is he doing this?_

_I don't know, just, let me handle this. Go sit down at the piano, and I'll take it from there._

_Ok?_

She did as I said, glaring at her father as she crossed the room. Why was George doing this?

Sitting down at the piano stool, she passed control over to me. I wasn't sure if she even knew how she had done it, but she had done, and I sat there, looking around at all of the family and friends that had once come to my wake, and cried for me.

I looked up at George.

"Arthur's song." He mouthed.

I nodded, returned my gaze to the piano, and began to play.

Mum gasped and stood up from where she had been sat in the corner, silently crying into a cushion. Only my mother and siblings understood what this was. I could see Ron and Ginny holding hands, staring at me with wonder. Percy, Bill and Charlie just stood, gaping at me, listening to the song that I had played for Dad's last birthday before I had died. It was a beautiful tune, one of my best, and I was proud of it. I became overwhelmed by sadness, lost inside memories of George, Dad, and my childhood. Suddenly a different feeling took over.

I dived sideways, away from the piano, and threw up all over Aunt Muriel's shoes. Then collapsed onto the floor, and blacked out.

* * *

><p><strong>Hooray for more overly cheesy piano playing!<br>And Wow, you're still reading...  
>Both past present and future me are extremely grateful (I can't figure out what tense I'm in right now so... :)  
>If you're interested in hearing the stuff that Fred's been playing, it's all based on Ludovico Einaudi. You can find him on youtube, and it's all just gorgeous piano stuff. Although I think I'm the only one on the planet who listens to classical music but it is worth a listen. Especially Nuvole Bianche or I giorni.<br>Edited as of 26/06/12  
>And thank-you so much for reading this far.<br>From Hannah :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Teddy? What are you doing here?"

They were stood in the middle of Platform nine and three quarters, and Roxy was going back to school after the Christmas holidays.

Teddy sighed, "Roxy, you have to tell him before you leave."

He gestured over to George. He was laughing with Ron, Harry and Hermione. Angelina was absent; one of her friends had just been left by their husband, so she had gone to take care of her.

Both Ron and George still looked distraught, but they were, gradually, getting over Dad's death. I hadn't seen Mum since the Wake; she had been avoiding Roxy, which was understandable when you consider that just as her husband died, she became faced with the possibility that her dead son may still be alive in the form of her Granddaughter, the emotionally unstable girl who was tortured and left for dead in an abandoned House. It's too much for anyone to deal with; I hate myself for playing the song. Why was I so stupid? Why didn't I just tell Roxy to pretend George was joking?

_It's my fault too. I shouldn't have let you._

_No Roxy, this one's all me. Don't ever think it's your fault._

"Hello? Roxy? Are you there?" Teddy asked, waving a hand in front of her face and jolting her out of our conversation.

"What? Oh, yeah, sure Teddy, I'll-I'll tell him now."

She walked slowly over to where her Dad stood and casually took hold of his hand.

"Dad? Can I talk to you?"

"Of course," George smiled, and took Roxy off into a corner, away from the others. "What is it Roxy?"

Roxy looked up into his smiling face. She couldn't do it. She couldn't hurt him like that. There was no way she would physically be able to get the words out. She glanced over at Teddy, who gave her an encouraging smile.

"Dad, I…"

George knelt down so he could be face to face with her.

"I… I just wanted to say that I love you Dad, and Thank you, for everything."

George put his arms around her. "I love you too princess. I love both of you."

Roxy pulled away, a horrified expression on her face. "No, Dad. Leave me alone. I'm not him. I'll never be him. I can't believe you would…" She shook her head.

Both of them were crying. He grabbed hold of her hand as she tried to walk away.

"Roxy, I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean it, please!"

"No." She pulled her hand out of his grasp and ran away from him, onto the train.

"Roxy wait!"

She walked along the corridor and into the compartment that held five of her cousins. Tears still flowing freely, she threw herself down in between Lily and Rose.

The train started up, and they sat in silence, everyone watching Roxy.

"Uhh, Roxy?" Fred was sat by the window, looking out at the platform, "I think Dad wants to talk to you."

"Thank you, Sherlock." She wiped away the tears with the sleeve of her jumper.

"He's chasing after the train."

* * *

><p>"Roxy, post for you."<p>

"Oh, thanks Albus."

Roxy took the two envelopes from him, placed them down on the table next to her and carried on eating her cornflakes.

"Aren't you going to open them?" Fred looked concerned.

"No, maybe later, it won't be anything important."

"Roxy, is there something you're not telling us?" Rose had joined the conversation, and beside her Molly and Lily were also listening in.

"No. I'm just going to read the post later."

"That's Dad's handwriting on one of the envelopes. Don't you want to see what he wants to tell you? Especially after what happened yesterday."

She sighed, it was the morning after they had arrived back at Hogwarts, and none of her family seemed to want to forget George chasing the train.

_Just open them Roxy, maybe they'll leave you alone after that._

She picked up the envelope with George's handwriting on it, and opened it slowly, holding the letter at an angle so that no-one could read it.

She quickly scanned it, and stuffed the parchment into her pocket, just as five hands reached out to grab the letter off her. There was a dull thud as Lily's fist missed and hit her face, and she yelped with pain. It really hurt; no wonder Lily was a beater.

"OW! Lily you Idiot! That hurts!" She gasped.

Roxy stood up, her face cradled in her hands, and ran from the hall.

She stood in the bathroom studying her face, it looked horrible, the whole right side of her face was red, and her eye was swollen and already going black.

_Here, try 'Emaculo'._

_Thanks Fred._

She pointed her wand tip towards her eye and muttered the spell. It looked loads better, although her eye was still black and swollen up.

_What do we do about Dad's letter?_

_Well, you can't blame him, he misses me. Imagine what you'd be like if Freddie died, and then you were given a tiny piece of hope that he could still be alive, somehow._

_I'd do exactly the same thing, but it's difficult…_

_Give it a few days, and then write back. You know he's really sorry._

_Yeah. _She sighed and looked back into the mirror again.

_I look awful._

I took a moment to study her disfigured face.

_Nah, stand next to James and no-one'll notice._

She laughed, and picked up her bag. She had already missed the whole of potions, and was five minutes late for Herbology. I was glad that she was in a good mood today, she deserved a bit of happiness.

In that moment, both of us forgot that the other letter still lay on the Gryffindor Table, waiting for someone to pick it up…

* * *

><p>Professor Longbottom was not famous for giving out harsh punishments, so we were surprised to find ourselves scrubbing Bubotuber Pus off the floor of Greenhouse one after dinner that evening, having been caught talking in his class. Neville sat with his feet up on a table, enjoying watching Roxy work. I preferred him before he was a war hero; he was a much nicer person.<p>

_He might look smug now, but I don't remember him being so chuffed when Snape made him wash the entire Potions corridor… Twice!_

She giggled, and wiped the sweat off her forehead.

"Something funny, Miss Weasley?"

"No sir." She was still grinning.

"I despair; the only reason I gave you this detention was because your parents told be to find out what's wrong with you, and now you just sit there looking like you've just taken a grinning potion. If it wasn't for your eye I'd probably say you were one of the happiest people I know."

Roxy sat still for a minute, not sure whether or not to be angry that her parents were checking up on her.

Neville sighed, "You can go. I'll tell your Dad that you're fine. What did happen to your eye by the way?"

"I… Lily punched me in the face. It was an accident and she's said she's sorry. It's fine now."

In reality her eye still throbbed painfully, but Neville believed what she had said, and waved her away with a flick of his wrist.

When she arrived back at the common room it was nearly empty. She walked over to the armchairs where Lily, Molly, Albus, James and Fred were sitting and sat down on Albus' chair arm.

"I just had to scrub Bubotuber Pus off the Greenhouse floor for two hours!" She complained loudly, crossing her arms.

"Really? That doesn't sound like Neville." Albus frowned.

"He says Mum and Dad put him up to it, they want to know what's wrong with me."

"So there is something wrong with you!" Lily cried out. "I knew it! What is it! You can tell us!"

"No there's nothing wrong, I'm just still a bit…" She trailed off, looking downwards.

There was a long awkward silence, in which Molly walked over and put her arm around Roxy. "Does the cruciatus curse hurt a lot?"

"More than anything in the entire world."

There were a few more minutes of silence where everybody sat, fidgeting, and avoiding Roxy's eyes.

"I'm going to bed. It's late." Albus stood up, and walked away, out of the common room, presumably back to the dungeons and the Slytherin common room.

"Same."

"Me too."

"And me."

One by one, they stood up and left, until only Roxy and James were left sitting by the fire.

James stood up, and said, "I may not have been the most trustworthy person in the world before this, but this is a whole lot bigger than what I told Fred. You can count on me this time Roxy. I'll help you through this."

He walked out of the room, dropping a piece of parchment onto her lap as he left. Roxy picked it up, and buried her face in her hands.

_Dear Roxy  
>I'm really proud of you telling your Dad. He might not have reacted very well, but it's only natural that he's upset about it. Now I know your parents are supporting you now, but I just wanted you to think about some of the options. I'm sure you aren't the first Hogwarts student to be Pregnant, so there will be someone there that you can talk to about what to do with the child. I grew up without my parents Roxy, and I can tell you, as great as Harry and Ginny are, there's no way I would have chosen them. I'm not saying adoption's a bad idea, but you should really think about it before deciding what to do. I also know some people might try to pressure you towards Abortion, but I don't see that as an option, I don't think you will either.<br>Make sure you keep me up to date with EVERYTHING, and I mean every tiny little thing, however insignificant you think it is. Please know that however bad things seem, there will always be people to help you through it.  
>Love, Teddy<em>

Roxy shut her eyes for a second; James would easily have made the connection.

"He thinks I told Dad. What do I do? What do I do?"

_Well, you could stop face-palming for a few seconds, people are staring._

She smiled, glancing over at the group of first years watching her. A taller figure stood up and walked over to her, looking concerned.

"Are you alright? You look like… well… like crap if I'm honest." It was James' girlfriend, Holly. They had only spoken a few times, but she seemed nice enough.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit stressed out." She said quickly, smiling up at Holly. "I think I'll go to bed, night."

Roxy ascended the stairs slowly, aware of the kind, but still slightly concerned looking eyes that still followed after her.

* * *

><p><strong>Don't really have very much to say any more having just deleted the lyrics to the entirety of "Harry Freakin' Potter" from down here. I mean, wow, you're still reading. That's gotta be a good thing... right? Or maybe you're just laughing at me.<br>Probably.  
>Oh well, thank-you for reading this far anyway, I hope you're enjoying yourself.<br>Edited as of 26/6/12  
>Hannah :)<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Three weeks had passed since James found out Roxy's secret, and, surprisingly, he kept his mouth shut. Not only that, but he no longer made fun of her hair, or sneaked puking pastels into her food, or tripped her up as she walked past. Everyone had noticed the change, and it went as far as Rose asking her what she was using to blackmail him. Roxy just laughed, and walked off with a forced smile upon her face.

They were eating Breakfast when the news came.

"I believe most of you are aware that there was a Hogsmede trip planned for this weekend." Professor Flitwick, the Headmaster, was standing at the front of the hall, "I regret to inform you, that in light of certain events, the trip has been cancelled." The hall broke out with Boo's and shouts of protest. "Anyone over the age of seventeen," He continued, "Who we cannot legally stop from leaving the castle, will be able to visit the village as normal. Please be aware that the trip has been cancelled for your own safety, and that we do not solely to annoy you." He sat down, seemingly oblivious to the shouts and yells of everyone in the Hall, and he calmly continued eating, until the noise had gradually returned to normal levels.

"I suppose we should have seen that one coming," Lily muttered, "There's no way your Dad would have let Flitwick let the trips carry on. You should have seen his face when your Mum first told us what had happened to you, he looked worse than Gran at Granddad's funeral."

A knot formed in the bottom of Roxy's stomach, I tried to comfort her, but she was already hiding tears from Lily and Albus, who was also listening in.

"Oh Merlin, I'm sorry Roxy, I didn't think… I… I'm…"

"No. It's fine- I'm fine- I'll just-" She shook her head and hurried out of the hall, leaving her half eaten breakfast on the table.

"Hey, Wait! Hey, Roxy Wait!" The shouts came from behind her, and she tried to run faster, but to no avail.

James caught up with her.

"Don't listen to them; it's not your fault."

"But it is." She sobbed.

"It's not, don't you dare ever, EVER think that. None of this is your fault, none of it. Just-"

He threw his arms around her, and stoked her hair, telling her it was ok, and that things would turn out fine. When he pulled away, there were tears in his eyes.

"James, what-?" she was amazed her cousin could be capable of such sentiment.

"I'm sorry," He wiped his eyes, "When you first started school, I swore that I wouldn't ever let anyone hurt you, and now you're- It's just- I'm sorry." He looked away and walked off quickly, his face hidden.

Roxy just stood there, unsure of what to do.

_What was that?_

I was surprised she had consulted me; she didn't often talk to me, preferring to just let me observe silently.

_I have no Idea. What I do know is that we can Blackmail him for years._

She laughed, and was still thinking about James' outburst when she sat down in potions half an hour later.

"Roxanne? Roxanne? ROXANNE? PAY ATTENTION FOR GODS SAKE."

"Huh?"

She looked up from where she had been staring down the desk, and met the eyes of the surly looking Professor Connor. Personally, I think he IS Professor Snape reincarnated; he has the same greasy hair, and a stare that would unsettle Voldemort himself.

_Tell him to get a life- And a shower._

_Shhh. _She thought, giggling.

"Is there something amusing you would like to share with us? No? Well then, you shall be the one on whom we will try out the Potion at the end of the class, maybe that will put a damper on your mood. Now," He turned to the rest of the students, "Today we shall be making the potion 'Somno Experrectus Pavore' would anyone be so kind as to explain to Roxanne what the effects of this particular potion are?"

Molly gasped, "But you can't give her that, sir, it's-"

"I asked for an explanation, not a moral message." He cut her off curtly.

"I… Somno Experrectus Pavore, sometimes known as a 'Boggart in a Bottle', causes the drinker to see what they fear the most, and describe what they can see to people around them." Molly half muttered, her brow furrowed, deep in thought, but not on what she was explaining. "It was widely used by the followers of Voldemort- They would find out people's fears and then re-create them in real life. But sir, there must be some law against-"

"That will be all, Miss Weasley. And I can assure you that there is no such law. Five points to Gryffindor. Now the potion can be found on page 394 of your textbooks, and all of the ingredients you need are in the storeroom. Now hurry up and get started."

_What I fear the most… _Roxy was horror struck; she stayed still in her seat, not moving towards the store cupboard with the other students.

_It's ok, we'll find a way around it, I promise._

She stood up, and began to gather the ingredients with everyone else.

**Molly's POV**

I poured the wolfsbane into the potion, taking less care than usual; if he did use the potion on Roxy, he'd go to me first, knowing that I'd have the best potion. Surely he couldn't actually use it; it had to be illegal, and after what had happened to Roxy, I dreaded finding out what her nightmares were about. I felt the familiar clench in my stomach that I always got when I thaught about Roxy. I'm sure everyone in the family would give anything for it to have happened to them instead of her, and I was no exception. Albus, Rose and Dom were both stony faced beside me, Albus throwing ingredients into his cauldron without cutting or measuring them; apparently he had adopted the same theory as me. In fact, everyone I could see everyone, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff alike, were barely taking any care with their potions. I was kind of proud that even without knowing about Roxy, people still thaught this was too much, too far. Even the Slytherins; Scorpius Malfoy was following Albus' lead.

Looking over at Roxy I saw that she was white and shaking, but had a determined look on her face as she sliced up the bicorn horn. There were only twenty minutes left before the lesson ended now, and I knew Connor would want a good fifteen to test out the potions on Roxy. Sure enough…

"Alright students, that should be quite enough time to finish your potions, now let's see; who will have the honour of being the chief for dear Roxy? Hmmm, what about Cousin Molly?" He strode over and looked down into my cauldron. He paused, and raised his eyebrows, "This will barely give her a jump, let alone a nightmare, now why-?" He smirked and shook his head disapprovingly, as I glared at him. "Oh, I see. How chivalrous of you."

He checked a few other people's cauldrons. "Has anyone here brewed anything acceptable?"

He glared at us all, hate filling his eyes. Then he spotted Roxy's Potion. He paused in front of her, and then sniffed the air above the potion. "A near perfect brew; how ironic that this is the day you discover your talents."

He scooped some of the purple liquid into a cup, and took Roxy off into the big space he had set up in the middle of the classroom.

"Now remember students, this is a practical lesson, and we are doing this solely to demonstrate the effects of the potion."

He handed her the cup.

"A few sips should do it."

She took the potion, and, glaring at him with eyes aflame, downed it all in one.

His eyes grew wide with concern as she dropped the cup, and it rolled away across the floor.

The class held its breath for one painful minute and, just for a second, relief filled her eyes.

Then she dropped to the floor, and began rocking backwards and forwards, her head cradled in her arms. I tried to rush to her side, but Albus grabbed my arm and shook his head.

"So Roxy, where are you now?"

She was crying, whimpering in pain.

"Tell me where you are." He commanded strongly.

She whimpered again. "I'm at home."

Me and Albus looked at each other confusedly, we had not expected that.

"Are you alone? Is there anyone with you?"

"Yes," She had stopped crying now, her face was flat and empty, "I'm sat on the sofa with Mum and Dad."

Somewhere in the middle of this, Rose had found my hand, and we, and every other student in the class stood there, searching in vain for a way to stop this.

"What are you doing?"

She began to sob again, and every now and then she would let out a small scream of pain.

"I've just told them, and Dad is- Dad is- He looks like-"

"What have you told them Roxy?"

She was now shaking, and was trying to crawl away along the classroom floor. She reached the wall, and began scratching at it with her nails, as though hoping to dig through it and escape. I could see blood on the wall where she was scratching at it.

"What have you just told your parents Roxy? What is it that's so terrible?"

She whimpered again, "I've just told them, that- that in the shack, the men- they- NO!"

Her voice changed suddenly, she sounded stronger, louder. She stopped trying to dig through the wall, and stood up, stepping forwards and walking towards Professor Connor. Her arms outstretched, reaching towards his face.

Then she dropped to the floor and lay on her back, convulsing.

I Broke out of Albus' grip and ran to her side, stroking her hair, holding her face.

"Make it stop!" I yelled at him. "It's not right, make it stop!"

But he did nothing, and continued watching her. "What's happening now?" He asked her, a small smirk on his face.

"No, not her, not her, anyone else."

Roxy sounded different; she had lost her Yorkshire accent, and now sounded a lot like Uncle George.

She let out a huge and terrible scream that echoed around the chamber. Albus, Rose, Dom and Lorcan were now gathered around her as well.

"Please no. Not her, please, I'm- I can't stand them hurting her, I- Anyone else but her. I can't- It hurts me too but I can't let her see. She can't know- I have to help her."

"What's happening?" Albus yelled to me over the sound of her screams.

"I- I don't know. It shouldn't be- I don't know." I called back.

Professor Connor now saw that he had gone too far. He took a small bottle and poured it into her mouth. Her screams stopped. And she lay with her eyes closed, as if she was asleep.

"NO!" She was suddenly back inside the nightmare. Screaming, rolling around in pain.

"I need to stop them. It hurts so much. Please, not her, PLEASE!"

Connor was now by her side, concerned. "Molly, please go to the store cupboard and get the extra phial of antidote, she has taken too much of the potion for one phial to be enough."

I ran to the cupboard, and grabbed the phial. Sprinting across the classroom I shoved it into his hands.

Her screams subsided again, and she lay still.

"What's going on?" I looked up, and saw stood there, by the door, Professor Flitwick, Professor Grimble, George, Angelina, and Teddy.

George was striding forwards. He and Angelina both looked terrible, like everything in the world that mattered to them had been taken away.

"What did you do to her?" He strode up to professor Connor, eyes flaming and fists clenched tightly, as Angelina ran over to Roxy's side..

"Ah, Mr Weasley, your daughter kindly volunteered to test out her own brewing of 'Somno Experrectus Pavore'. Against my advice, she drank a whole Goblet full, and as you can see, we had some very interesting results.

"You…" George was shaking, "You- You-"

He pulled out his wand and fired a volley of curses towards Connor. Connor ducked out of the way and pulled out his own wand, aiming it squarely at Uncle George's head.

"STOP!" Professor Flitwick's commanding voice stopped the two men instantly.

As if returning to his senses George ran to Roxy's side, shoving me out of the way. He and Angelina both clutched at her hands.

"Please…" Roxy murmured, "It hurts."

No, no. She had taken too much of the potion for it to be stopped that easily. I guessed that, even though she appeared to be over the fit, she was still screaming and flailing in her sleep, utterly terrified.

"Students, I want you to pack your things away and go to the library while you wait for your next lesson to begin. And Albus, I believe that Fred is in a transfiguration class at the moment, would you be so kind as to tell him to go to the hospital wing at the end of his lesson."

Albus nodded and left, and we were still for a few minutes while the other students packed their bags and left for the library. Lorcan left too, leaving me, Lily, and Rose standing there, unsure of what to do.

"I did not advise her to drink the entire goblet, and she volunteered of her own accord, every year we use a different student to test out the potion, and never before had it been seen as a problem." Professor Connor was standing in the corner; he didn't look remotely bothered that one of his students was near comatose.

"OF HER OWN ACCORD?" I shrieked, "You practically force fed it to her. I can't believe you can stand there and smirk like that! You're EVIL! PURE EVIL!"

I broke of suddenly, and stood there glaring at him. Everyone stared at me, no-one had ever imagined the quiet and bookish Molly Weasley was capable of anything like that. Even George had looked up away from Roxy.

"Thank-you, Molly, for those words of wisdom. I believe we can take it from here. Why don't you show Teddy here up to my office, where you can wait with him until we have taken care of Roxanne? And Lily and Rose, would you please gather up your extended family and take them to wait in my office? Thank-you."

"I… Ok." I was just as amazed as everyone else at my outburst. We left the classroom, and as soon as we were out of earshot I rounded on Teddy.

"What's going on? Why are you here? Is everything ok? Has something happened?"

I noticed that his normally electric blue hair had taken on the mousy brown colour that he had when he was in a bad mood.

"I… Yes, Roxy has… It's… I… She's not been entirely truthful to anyone." He bit his lip, and seemed to be having a fierce internal argument. "She's pregnant."

All of the nervous curiosity drained from my face, and I mentally took a step back. Trying to understand what was going on.

"What..?"

"She confided in me and then lied to me about telling her parents. That day in the shrieking shack they…" he began to cry silently

"Oh Merlin…"

Everything was too much. We both lapsed into silence, and remained that way until we got to Flitwick's office.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Fred Weasley I Point of view<span>**

"Hello? Roxy, can you hear me? My name's Janice, I'm your healer for the time you'll be spending here."

Roxy sat up, and put her hand up to her head, wincing. It hurt like hell.

"I'm sorry, I know it hurts, but you have to stay strong, ok? Would you like me to send in your family?"

Roxy winced again. "Family second, Painkillers first."

Janice laughed, "I'm sorry, but with the amount of potion you took you're lucky to be alive right now. We can't risk giving you anything else on top of that."

She sighed, "Where am I? How long have I been here?"

"Saint Mungo's hospital, you've been here for three days now. Do you remember what happened to you?"

_Do you remember anything, Fred?_

I tried to search my mind but it was as if a whole section of my memories had faded into blackness.

_No. I remember screaming, but I can't remember if it was us or someone else._

She shook her head at the nurse.

"Would you like me to bring in your family now?"

"Yes please."

There was a minute of silence after the nurse left the room; we briefly wondered how much of our family was still here, but eventually we just settled for searching the blackness to try to find out what had happened.

"Shit the baby!"

_No, Roxy. There has to be another reason._

I knew that she was right. The last thing we could remember was eating breakfast with Lily and Albus. Roxy was imagining herself collapsing in the middle of the great hall, falling to the floor with people looking on and screaming.

_No! Calm down, calm down. There has to be another reason. We can't have lost the baby. It has to be ok._

But I could see the sense in her words. Roxy was clutching at her stomach, desperately trying to hold on to her dead child.

"Roxy what's…?"

Out of the corner of her eye we saw George, Angelina and Fred in the doorway. Panic in their eyes.

Roxy was sobbing. Neither of us could put our grief into words.

"The baby…?"

"What? Roxy, I…" Angelina rushed to our side, a smile on her face.

_How can she smile? The baby, the baby._

"Roxy, the baby's fine. It's you we're worried about."

What? Neither me, nor Roxy could understand the words.

_Fine? Fine? The baby's fine. We're going to be fine. It's all fine. _Roxy sang to herself.

"How you feeling Roxy?" George was standing over in the corner, far away from us, avoiding her eyes.

I had a sudden flashback: I saw George lying on the sofa in the burrow, his face covered in blood "How you feeling Georgie?" That was how George felt now. It was the worst feeling in the world.

Roxy ignored my memories.

"I'm… good." She suppressed the joy, and managed to prevent her face breaking out into a relieved smile, she was still ecstatic at the news the Baby was fine.

"The healer said you don't remember anything, are you ok?" This was the first time Fred had spoken, and he wasn't as good at hiding the pain as George was.

"I'm fine, just… What actually happened?"

Angelina began to explain, but then broke off into a violent sob and had to leave the room. Fred carried on for her.

"But, I don't understand. Why did I take the whole potion? Why didn't I refuse to do it…? I don't get it." She said confusedly.

Fred held her hand, silently comforting her in a way words never could.

"Fred, can you give us a minute?" George's voice was hoarse and low, and the look on his face told Fred not to go against him.

"Uh, I'll go and check that Mum's ok."

He squeezed her hand one last time, and sidled out of the room, looking suspiciously from George to Roxy.

A few minutes of tense awkward silence passes, and then George waked over to us, and knelt down by the side of the bed.

He gazed into her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me Roxy? Do you not trust me?"

Tears sprung to his eyes, and he took hold of her hand.

"Of course I trust you, but I couldn't… I couldn't bear to see you hurting like this."

Roxy was crying now too. The look on George's face was exactly what she had been having nightmares about for weeks.

"No, Roxy. You are so, so much more important than me. My feelings don't matter. What does matter is that you're alright. And I promise that no-one will ever, ever hurt you again."

He grabbed Roxy up in his arms, and sobbed into her shoulder. She refrained from wincing; he needed this moment. He needed to just let everything out.

"Dad, I'm fine, please."

He wouldn't let her go.

"Dad, please. I'm fine, I just need…"

"What? What is it Roxy? I'll give you anything you want, please, just ask."

He was still holding her in a vice like grip.

"What I would really like, is to be able to breathe, Dad."

He jumped away from her at an inhumane speed. "Oh, Princess I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm just…"

"Dad, it's fine. I'm fine."

"Do you want me to stay here? I can go. Please, just, anything you want."

He moved towards the door.

"No. Stay, please. That's what I want. I want you to stay here with me while I sleep, and still be here when I wake up. I just need you here."

"Of course, love, anything for you."

He pulled up a chair, and sat beside her, holding her hand, until she fell asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Holy cow balls, you're still reading.<br>Why are you still reading?  
>Not that I'm complaining of course, this is awesome. I have readers!<br>Edited as of 26/6/12  
>I think that this is the last one that I'll be able to edit tonight because it's quarter past one in the morning and my eyeballs are going to drop out.<br>I hope you like the story though.  
>Love Hannah :)<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The man waiting at her bedside when we woke up was not George. He looked like George, and sounded like George, but the George we had known was gone. He was an empty shell of a person, curled up inside himself. He was pale and thin; he wasn't eating properly, and nothing Roxy, Angelina or Fred could say would persuade him to eat. In the two weeks since Roxy left the hospital, he hadn't once left her side. Every night she would tell him to go to his own bed, get some sleep, take care of himself for once, and obligingly he would leave. But every morning when she woke up he would be curled up in the chair beside her, tossing and turning in his sleep. When Roxy was younger, I had fantasized about escaping from her mind, coming back to life and being with George again. But now I knew that nothing would ever, ever be the same. George was gone. And he would never come back.

He wasn't there now. Roxy had forced him to go and take a shower, good thing too, he STANK. There was a gentle knock at the door, and Teddy walked in.

"Hey, Roxy. Get up, we're going out. I thought this morning we might try and have a little adventure, and then we're meeting Harry and Ron this afternoon."

"But, Dad won't want…"

"I know you're worried about his feelings, but you can't let him suffocate you. He has a right to be protective, but it's been long enough. C'mon, get up, quickly; we want to leave without him finding out. I've told your Mum what's happening and she's fine with it. Now hurry up."

Feeling excited for the first time in weeks, she jumped out of bed. Teddy left for a few minutes while she got dressed, and then arrived with some toast.

"Can I leave a note for Dad?"

"Of course, do you want me to get you some paper?"

"No, I've got some here."

She reached up onto her bedside table and grabbed a notebook and a pen. Ripping out a page she wrote,

_To Dad,_

_I've gone out with Teddy for the day. Please don't worry about me; I'm honestly fine. Why don't you go to the shop? It's not fair to have Lee and Cho running it full time like this. Fred wouldn't have wanted you to just forget about it because of me. Don't do anything stupid._

_Love Roxy :)_

She added the smiley face as an afterthought. George had always loved stupid little muggle things like that.

Placing the note on her pillow she took hold of Teddy's arm and held her breath while they disapparated.

The smell hit her first. It smelled like the sea, and fish and chips, and the sound of gulls crying echoed around us. Her eyes were still closed a few seconds after they had landed, and she could feel Teddy growing anxious beside her.

She opened her eyes and looked around. She was facing the ocean, and it was huge, miles and miles of endless blue stretching out in front of her. Looking around, she saw what looked like a rundown castle on the top of a hill. She guessed it was a Muggle cathedral or something like that. To her right was a statue of a man holding a telescope; he had a seagull perched on top of his head. Beside that there was an archway made of something that looked suspiciously like huge bones. She loved the place instantly.

"Where are we?" She whispered.

"Muggle town called Whitby. Your Dad took us both here once, I was about twelve, you were three. You cried the whole time, but I thaught this place was magic. What do you think?"

She paused, "I love it."

He smiled widely and took hold of her hand.

"Fancy a swim?"

She laughed.

"I'm serious, c'mon."

"I'm three months pregnant."

"So? Why should that affect anything? Live a little."

"I… The water's cold. It's February, and it was snowing last week."

He took his wand out of his pocket and waved it in front of her pointedly.

"I don't have a change of clothes."

Again he held up his wand.

_Go. It'll be fun._

"Are you sure it won't hurt the baby?"

"Positive. C'mon, let's go."

They raced down the steps and onto the beach. When they got near to the water Teddy pulled off his shirt and began to untie his shoes.

"Hey, Guys! Wait up!"

She turned to see Rose, James, Albus, Holly (James' girlfriend), and Lily running towards them.

"Oh, hey, you found it ok, then?" Teddy asked.

"Yeah, it only took James apparating to three other places called Whitby, one of which was in Canada." said Rose irritably.

They all laughed.

"We were just going for a swim, you want to come?"

"Sure."

Teddy moved closer to Roxy, "Are you ok with them being here? I can get them to leave if you want."

"No, it's fine. Shouldn't they be in school though?"

"Oh Roxy," he sighed, flicking her nose, "Your happiness is much more important than James' N.E.W.T results."

"I think his mother would disagree."

Teddy laughed, and carried on untying his shoelaces.

Roxy walked over to where Rose was getting undressed.

"The one day I wear flowery knickers…" Rose complained.

"Who've you got to impress? Teddy is the only boy here you're not related to. Do you really want to go there?" Roxy raised her eyebrows.

"You know full well I would, and if I remember correctly from the last time we played truth or dare, you would too." She laughed.

Roxy blushed, "I would not! That's gross, he's practically my brother."

"He is gorgeous though."

"No, he's like my brother." She insisted.

_Roxy, you've only ever loved two people. And one of them is stood over there, wearing only boxer shorts. Don't kid yourself._

Roxy laughed, turned her back on everyone else, and began to undress.

Teddy cast a spell on the water to make it warm up, but Holly still squealed loudly when she got in. James, being a kind and gentle boy, pushed her in. When her head came up she was spluttering and squeaking, but she refused to stand up again, complaining her bra had gone see through.

Everyone else was in the water, laughing and splashing each other. But Roxy just stood there for a few minutes, watching the others play.

_Fred… You're a boy._

_I used to be, yes._

_Do you think Teddy could ever like me?_

I paused, trying to decide how best to answer.

_Yes. You're smart, funny and beautiful, what guy wouldn't like you?_

She blushed.

_Yes, but do you think he could ever think about me like _that_?_

_I don't know, the way he looks at you… He really cares about you._

_Really?_

_Yes, of course. And whenever he looks at you, he can't stop his hair from changing to bubble-gum pink. I reckon the only reason he ever changes his hair colour so much is so that no-one will notice that it's you that makes it change. I think it's a reflex, like blushing._

_Really?_

"Oi, Roxy! You coming?"

She looked over at him, and sure enough, when her eyes met his, his hair changed to a brilliant shade of pink.

She bit her lip with excitement.

"Sure."

* * *

><p>"I win again!"<p>

"That's not fair though. You keep making your feet the size of flippers! And you're older and stronger than me!"

"All's fair in love and war." Teddy smirked, splashing water at her.

She splashed him back, and suddenly they were engaged in a huge water fight.

"Roxy! Teddy!" The yell came from the beach, "We're off to get chips, you want some?"

"Yeah, brilliant!"

Everyone else had got out half an hour ago, and Roxy was alone in the sea with Teddy. James and Holly had gone off the see the castle, which it turned out was an Abbey. And the others had just gotten cold and drifted off one by one.

Roxy's thoughts were interrupted by Teddy jumping on her head, asking for another Race.

"Only if you shrink your feet, and I get a five second head start."

He grinned at the prospect of a real challenge.

"Alright, to that buoy. Three, two, one, Go!"

Roxy dived forwards into the water and began swimming as fast as she could. She heard the splash as Teddy dived in a few seconds after her, but she kept swimming. She was three quarters of the way there when he overtook her, so she swam the last few metres more slowly; he was just standing there, waiting for her.

It was too deep for her to stand, so she held onto Teddy's shoulder to keep her up.

"I love your hair this colour." She said, running her fingers through it.

His hair turned an even brighter shade of pink, and she could have sworn his cheeks went red just for a second.

_Told you._

_Shut up, Fred._

I obliged, and quietly sat back to watch what would happen next.

He was staring at her, his eyes glowing bright Gold. She had only ever seen them like that once before. They were beautiful.

He brought his hand up and touched her face, gently pushing her hair behind her ear. He opened his mouth as if to say something, and then closed it again.

They were staring into each other's eyes. Their faces moved closer, and I could feel ecstasy building inside of Roxy, she had been yearning for this moment since she was eight years old.

Then Teddy pulled his face away and shook his head, as if angry at himself.

"C'mon, it's cold. The others should be back with the chips soon."

He swam away towards the shore, leaving Roxy treading water by herself, completely numb.

"Alright, you guys should be going back to school. And Roxy, we're supposed to meet Ron and Harry at two."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Why are we meeting them anyway?"

Teddy looked around at the others, an uncomfortable expression on his face. "They want to take you out for a treat."

Teddy was nearly as bad at lying a Roxy. She watched him suspiciously as he finished the last of his chips, and stood up.

"C'mon, we have to get going. I can trust you lot to go straight back to Hogwarts after you've finished eating, can't I?" He raised an eyebrow at James, who smiled sweetly.

"Of course, Teddy, when have I ever disobeyed you before?"

Both of Teddy's eyebrows were now raised, he turned them green to emphasize his scepticism even more.

"Rose, make sure he does as he's told. Roxy, are you done?"

She stood up, and looked up at the Abbey one more time. We were in the Graveyard, sat underneath the headstone marked 'Dracula'; apparently this was where he first arrived in England before he began his reign of terror. Me and George gave up history of magic though, so I don't know all that much about it.

We apparated to a busy street full of Muggles rushing around carrying shopping bags and talking loudly into phones. Roxy followed Teddy around a corner and onto a quieter street with no shops. The only distinguishing feature on this road was a red telephone box with an 'Out of order' sign hung on it.

Teddy opened the door and stepped in, beckoning Roxy to follow him.

"I think it's broken." She pointed out as he began to dial. He shushed her, and continued dialling.

"Hello and Welcome to the ministry of Magic," The woman's voice was loud and robotic, issuing through speakers at the top of the box, rather than from the phone itself. "Please state your name and reason for visiting us today."

Teddy coughed.

"Teddy Lupin and Roxanne Weasley, here to visit the Auror office."

There was a small clink as two badges fell into the coin return slot. Teddy picked them up and passed Roxy the one with her name on it. She pinned it to the front of her jumper, and looked back up at Teddy.

Suddenly the Phone box began moving slowly down into the ground, and Roxy clutched Teddy's hand tightly as everything went dark.

Suddenly the door swung open, and we were standing in a huge hallway filled with witches and wizards.

Teddy smiled at Roxy, his hair turning from bright green to a dark red colour.

"Let's go."

They moved towards the lift, pushing their way through crowds of people.

"Teddy, Roxy! Hey, wait!"

They turned to see Ron striding towards them, a huge briefcase under his arm.

He caught up with them and put his arm around Roxy, ruffling her hair.

"Alright Rox? How's things?"

She smiled up at him, "Good, how are you?"

"Alright. How are you Teddy?"

"I'm good, we aren't late are we?"

"No, no, we're on time, but we should probably hurry up anyway."

The two men stepped into the lift, Roxy following them suspiciously.

_Something's going on. What is it? _She asked me.

_Don't know, I don't think they're just taking you out for a treat though._

"Uncle Ron, what's going on? Why am I here?"

Ron bit his lip. "I'll explain when we get there, ok?"

She nodded, even more suspicious than before.

The lift doors slid open, and the same robotic voice from the Telephone box said, "Level two, the Auror office."

They stepped out and walked along a narrow corridor. A man with long black hair greeted Ron as we passed, but other than that they saw no-one. At the end of the corridor was a green door with 'Harry Potter' written on it in shiny gold letters.

Ron knocked, and Teddy placed his hands on Roxy's shoulders in a reassuring way.

She looked up at him, and he smiled down at her, his hair a shiny brown colour, trying not to draw attention to himself.

"Come in."

The door swung open, revealing a small grey room. Harry was sat behind a desk, his face illuminated by the light of the computer screen in front of him. Stood behind him were two tall men with expressionless faces. Over on a black leather sofa at the side of the room sat a small witch with a huge stack of parchment balanced on her knee, she was watching Roxy curiously, her large blue eyes following her around the room.

"Hey Teddy, Roxy. How are you today?" Harry asked, still clicking the computer screen.

"I'm good." Roxy said.

"Me too, how are you?" Teddy added.

"Fine, just give me one minute to finish this."

He typed one last line on the keyboard, and turned to the men behind him.

"Alright, that's done; I've sent it to the printer. Send copies to Diagon Alley, Hogsmede, the usual places, ok?"

"Right, no problem."

They left, and Harry stood up and walked over to Roxy, kneeling down in front of her and taking her hand.

"I'm sure you've guessed why you're here, Roxy." He asked.

She shook her head, and he sighed.

"We're going to do everything we can to catch these people, but we need your help. We wanted to do this after it first happened, but your Dad wouldn't let us anywhere near you. I know it's painful, but we're going to have to ask you to think back and tell us everything you remember, even if it doesn't seem important. It's the tiny little insignificant things that matter. So, why don't you sit down?"

He gestured to his own seat, and she went over and sat down, a nervous expression on her face.

_How did we not see this coming? _I asked her, but she was too preoccupied watching Harry and Ron to answer. She was worried they would react in the same way George did, she didn't need anyone else obsessively protecting her. She felt a pang of guilt at the thought of George, she had completely forgotten about him.

"Roxy? In your own time." Harry said calmly.

"Just tell them exactly what you told me." Teddy said, smiling at her reassuringly.

"Ok."

She paused, trying to decide where to start.

"Well, Lily was supposed to be coming with me, but she chickened out at the last minute, said she was supposed to be meeting her boyfriend."

"Lily has a boyfriend?" Harry cut in.

"Not the time Harry." Ron told him impatiently.

"It was about half three when I finally got to the shack. I got in through a smashed window, I thaught it must have been there from when James went in last year, it never occurred to me that anyone was in there. I wandered around the rooms a bit, and then I decided to go upstairs… I- I opened the door at the top of the stairs and they were there. I tried to run, but they grabbed me, I couldn't get away, and then- and then-"

She began to cry, and Teddy walked over and put his arm around her.

"When they had finished I was sat in the corner, and they were deciding whether to- to kill me or not. And then when they said they were just going to leave, and I just kind of sighed. I- I thaught I was going to die and I just, I wasn't thinking. It was stupid. And then one of them picked my wand up of the floor and he just looked straight at me and yelled 'Crucio'. And then I- It was like-"

I didn't listen to the rest. I concentrated on Harry and Ron's faces; I had never seen either of them looking anything like that. In the corner the witch was scribbling down everything she said, occasionally pausing to look up at Harry.

"Thank-you for telling us what happened, Roxy." Harry said quietly when she had finished talking, "You've done brilliantly. Now, is it alright if we ask you some more questions?"

She nodded, and Ron and Harry pulled over chairs and sat down opposite her.

"Do you remember how many people there were?"

"Four."

"And do you remember hearing any names?"

"No."

"Did you recognise any of them from wanted posters or anything like that?"

"No."

There were more questions, about specific details like appearance, clothing etc.

"Thank-you, Roxy. I appreciate how hard this is for you. Now, we believe that these people were hiding in the shack because they are wanted criminals. We have a few of the most likely people on the computer here. Will you take a look for us?"

"Ok."

Harry walked around behind her and began clicking the computer screen, until he had brought up a page covered in the faces of wizards. He scrolled down slowly, allowing her to study each face carefully before moving on. He began to look more and more desperate as she rejected each photo. Eventually he gave out an exasperated sigh, exited the programme, and stood up.

"Alright, I think you've given us enough information to go on for now. We might have to question you again at some point, but that should be fine for now, Roxy?"

He had reached the door, not noticing that Roxy was staying where she sat, staring at the computer screen.

Neither me, nor Roxy could look away from the background of Harry's computer. There were two wanted posters side by side, one showing a man with large pointed teeth jeering into the camera, the other a smaller man with black, messy hair and dark eye makeup. Roxy was shivering; she had hoped never to see those faces again.

"Roxy?" Teddy asked from beside her.

Harry walked back over, and Ron, too, came and stood behind her to look at the computer screen.

She lifted a shaking finger and pointed it at the screen.

"Them."

* * *

><p>Half an hour passed, and Harry and Ron kept leaving the room and sending owls and making telephone calls.<p>

"Are you sure It's them? Totally sure?"

"You think I could forget them?"

Harry suddenly looked like he had had a brainwave, and ran to the computer again.

"Were these the other men with them?"

Roxy shuddered when she saw the pictures, "Yes. It was them."

Ron ran back into the room, and Harry made to leave again.

"STOP!" Teddy yelled, catching them both off guard. "Who are they? Why is this suddenly so much more urgent?"

"Alright," Ron said, "Harry, they both have a right to know."

He nodded, and gestured for Teddy and Roxy to go over and sit on the sofa (The blonde witch had left ten minutes previously).

Harry took hold of Roxy's hand.

"The men who attacked you were called Fenrir Greyback and Scabior; we don't know the names of the other two, but what we do know they worked as snatchers during Voldemort's reign.

"Snatchers?" Teddy asked.

"They would travel around the country, catching muggle borns and blood traitors and selling them to the death eaters. Ron, Hermione and I had a nasty experience with these particular snatchers near the end of the war, all four of them managed to escape capture after the battle of Hogwarts, and we've suspected that they might have been travelling together, but we thought that they were abroad. Roxy, I'm afraid you're going to have to take a blood test, we need to check something. Ron, will you go and get a healer?"

Ron stood up and left, and Harry turned back to us.

"Greyback is a werewolf, one of the most vicious werewolves ever to have lived. Teddy, you should know that Greyback is the wolf who bit your Father, and you are, to all intents, related to him."

Teddy sat back, bemused. He hadn't expected that.

_Roxy, the baby._

Roxy immediately jumped forwards.

"The baby. Will- the baby?"

"Roxy, it's fine, my Dad was a wolf and I turned out ok."

A look of pain crossed Harry's face.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. Greyback is a true werewolf; born a wolf, instead of just infected by one. If he is the father, then the child will be a true werewolf also."

"And what does that mean?" she asked shrilly.

"True werewolves are very dangerous. They are illegal in Britain."

"Illegal?"

Harry took hold of her hands.

"If the child is a true wolf the ministry will, by law, have to destroy it at birth."

Roxy fell back into the chair, shaking her head.

_No, no, no._

_Roxy I'm sure it won't be. It'll be fine, I swear._

Suddenly Ron arrived back with the healer. Looking from Harry to Roxy, his face filled with understanding.

"Roxy, I'm sure everything will be fine." He said.

But Roxy was too lost in her nightmare to notice.

The medic decided to take advantage of Roxy's none responsiveness.

"Alright Roxanne, I'm just going to take a little of your blood, would you mind rolling up your sleeve? Good girl, now this might hurt a bit."

It did hurt, a lot. But Roxy was too far away to notice.

"Thank-you Ella, standard test please." Harry said.

As the healer left Roxy whispered, "And this will tell us if the baby is a wolf?"

"Yes."

_You alright?_ I asked her, even though I knew fully well that she wasn't.

_It's too much. I can't…_

_Its ok, I know._

She leaned into Teddy, and he put his arm around her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his hair change to a stormy pink.

Teddy, Ron and Harry were discussing what would happen next, but Roxy had stopped listening. Everything was too much.

Her eyes were closed when she heard the door open again. In her mind's eye she saw the healer walk over to Harry and hand him the piece of paper. That would announce her unborn child's death sentence.

She opened her eyes to see Harry's reaction. We knew from the look on his face that the news was bad.

"What does it say?" Teddy asked quietly.

"The baby's not a wolf."

Roxy and Teddy both gave a huge sigh of relief, and Roxy began crying with Joy.

"But-"

There had to be a but.

"But you are, Roxy."

"Wha…?"

The words didn't make sense, they couldn't possibly make sense.

"But she hasn't… She's not…"

Harry and Ron exchanged looks of pain.

"He must have bitten her at some point. Female werewolves stop changing when they become Pregnant. You wouldn't have known anything until after the baby was born, and then…"

"Merlin…" Teddy exhaled, running a hand through his hair.

"But I thought werewolf bites couldn't change you if they bite you while in Human form. Uncle Bill is…"

"Yes, but it a full moon the day of the attack, the moon hadn't risen yet so hadn't transformed, but we think his wolf blood was strong enough at that time." Harry explained.

"At least we know now." Ron said, "Harry, I know we weren't going to get them involved with this, but I think we should call George and Angelina. They need to know."

Harry nodded, "I'll phone them now. Teddy, I want you to take Roxanne home. George and Ange should have left before you get there, so we can save Roxy having to meet them. Roxy," he looked deep into her eyes. "I promise everything will be alright. We will do everything we can to help you, you can trust us, ok?"

Roxy and Teddy stood up to leave, and Ron gave her one last hug before she left.

"Will you-" Roxy began, "I mean, make sure Dad doesn't-"

Harry nodded, and then began dialling into the telephone on his desk.

"C'mon Roxy, let's get you home."

Teddy didn't say anything as they walked through the Ministry, which gave me and Roxy time to talk.

_Well, this has been an eventful day. _I mused.

_Can't put it better than that._

_What do you think? About being a werewolf and everything?_

_I think… It won't be that bad._

_I don't follow. _How could she think that being a werewolf could be not that bad?

_It's just one night a month, and you can take potions so you just curl up and go to sleep. If I was born, say, twenty years ago, then it would have been awful, but nowadays it's not that bad really._

I could see the sense in her words, but I didn't understand how she could be so calm about all of this. She's a freaking werewolf for God's sake!

"Roxy?"

I hadn't noticed that were outside already; I couldn't even remember being in the telephone box.

Roxy took his hand, and he disapparated, and suddenly they were looking at the warm, friendly exterior of her home. Teddy went up to open the door.

"You don't have a key do you?" he asked her.

"No, check under the doormat."

"Nothing. Just wait here a minute while I go apparated inside."

He turned on the spot, and with a loud crack, vanished.

She waited still for a second, watching the door.

Suddenly there was another crack from behind her, and Teddy appeared again.

"Your Dad's put an anti-apparition spell on the house. We can't get in." He deliberated for a second or two, "We could go back to the Ministry and ask your parents for the key, but I think we should stay away from your Dad until he's calmed down a bit. Hmmm, alright then, we're going back to mine. I'll sleep on the sofa tonight."

He held out his arm to her, and she took it, holding her breath.

It had been a long time since she had been inside Teddy's house. It looked exactly the same, if slightly more forlorn.

"Do you know what the time is?" she asked suddenly.

He checked his watch, "Six o'clock, we were there for four hours. You look shattered. Why don't you have some hot chocolate and then get some sleep?"

"Yeah, but I don't have spare clothes."

He deliberated for a second. "I think I still have some of Victoire's stuff upstairs; it's in the wardrobe in my room, why don't you go get changed now?"

"Teddy, I couldn't. Not Victoire's stuff."

He turned away so Roxy couldn't see his tears.

"She's dead, Roxy. There's no point being sentimental any more, I've been meaning to throw it all out for ages. It's good they've still got some use."

Warily, she walked out of the room and upstairs. In the wardrobe she found a whole variety of clothes, Victoire had always loved to dress up, and Roxy had vague memories of a magical day when Victoire had taken her shopping.

She carefully picked out a pair of pyjamas and slipped them on. But she couldn't help going back to look at the clothes again.

She stayed there for fifteen minutes, flicking through the clothes, memories springing up with each dress she saw. Suddenly she gasped; a beautiful long white dress with pink ribbons woven into it hung before her. She recognised it from pictures she had seen; it was Fleur's wedding dress.

Roxy stroked it, feeling the delicate silk, gently pulling it out so she could get a better look at it.

"Fleur sent it over as soon as the engagement was announced. I never even got to see 'Toire try it on." Roxy turned to see Teddy standing behind her, holding two steaming mugs of hot chocolate. "I suppose I should send it back to Fleur, she's too polite to ask for it herself."

To her surprise he wasn't crying any more, he only looked sad.

"I'm sorry." Roxy mumbled, avoiding his eyes.

He placed the mugs down onto the bedside Table. "It wasn't your fault; it wasn't anyone's fault. Just…"

He waked over and shut the wardrobe, turning his back to it.

"I proposed exactly two years ago today."

"Teddy, I-"

"No."

He held his hand up to quieten her, and stood still for a second.

"This isn't about me, Roxy. This is about you, making sure you're ok. Please, let's just-"

He passed her the hot chocolate and sat down on the edge of the bed, sipping his own. He gestured for her to sit next to him.

"Do you want to talk?" He asked her.

"About what?"

"Everything that's happened."

She didn't answer, and just kept looking down at the floor.

"Alright then, I'll talk. I was going to tell you this tomorrow, but I've taken the job as potions teacher at Hogwarts. Professor Connor was fired, as you know, and Professor Flitwick asked me if I wanted to replace him, I said yes."

"That's brilliant!" She was cheered up instantly, this was the first good news she had heard in weeks.

"Yeah, I know, I've always wanted to teach. And teaching potions instead of making them will be a nice change from my job now."

Teddy worked in the ministry, experimenting with potions in the hope of finding cures for various diseases.

Roxy drained the last of her drink, and Teddy took the mug from her, standing up.

He watched her climb underneath the duvet, and then began to walk towards the door.

"No, Teddy, stay." she told him, then, noticing the look on his face, said, "I mean, just until I fall asleep."

He smiled, and sat back down next to her.

"Thank-you Teddy, for everything."

She rolled over, and lay still for a while, until finally she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

_Fred?_

_Yes?_

_Where are we?_

_Teddy's house, don't you remember?_

_Oh yeah._

She opened her eyes, and was surprised to see a figure lying beside her. Teddy must have fallen asleep on the bed. He was snoring lightly, and she was pleased to see that his hair was still bright pink. She gently touched his face, and then snuggled into him, feeding off the warmth radiating from his body. Teddy turned onto his side, his face close to hers.

"Roxy where's the cake?" he muttered in his sleep.

She laughed quietly, and then leaned closer into him and fell fast asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Heyo.<br>More editing.  
>Different day this time though.<br>((28/06/2012))  
>Ooh, I thought I should mention, the way I set out the date is in the English way, DDMM/YYYY. I don't think it should have caused any confusion and I doubt anyone is reading this anyway but still, there you go :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Teddy's POV**

When I woke up I kept my eyes closed, hugging Victoire to me, my face buried in her hair. Her hair seemed longer than I remembered, and she smelled different, she smelled nice. Wait… No… That didn't make sense because Victoire was… Victoire was… then who?

The answer came to me instantly, and I opened my eyes to see Roxy, eyes closed, looking peaceful for the first time since that day. It was odd, how many times had I dreamed of waking up next to her, and now here she was. Did we...?

No. Did we? I couldn't remember anything. We couldn't have… No, I was still wearing jeans and a jumper from yesterday. And she was wearing a pair of Vic's old pyjamas. Thank God, I'd never forgive myself if I had…

Ok, calm down, I just needed to get up slowly and go downstairs before she woke up. She looked so beautiful when she's asleep. No, Teddy, focus, that's it, slowly sit up.

"Teddy? Are you there?" she mumbled, eyes still closed, her hands gripping the front of my jumper.

"Shhh, shhh, just go back to sleep, It's alright. Shhh."

"Teddy?" she opened her eyes and sat up, looking at me sleepily, "What's going on?"

"Shhh, it's ok. How are you feeling?" I put my arm around her.

"Like shit. What's the time?"

I looked at my watch. "Eleven o'clock. Wait… Eleven o'clock! Get up, quick! We're late!"

"Late for what?" she still looked half asleep.

"You're having a scan at quarter past, now hurry up."

I jumped out of bed and grabbed some fresh clothes from the still open wardrobe.

"Get dressed; I'll be back with breakfast in five minutes."

I ran out of the room, leaving her sat there, still looking confused at what was going on. I turned back to her.

"Get dressed Roxy!"

With a sigh, she got up, and walked over to where her clothes lay in a neat pile by the wardrobe. I ran down the hallway into the bathroom and pulled on my clothes. Angelina would kill me if we missed the scan.

* * *

><p><strong>Fred's POV<strong>

_Hurry up Roxy! A scan! We get to actually see our Baby for the first time._

_OUR Baby?_ Jumping out of bed, she raised her eyebrows.

_You know what I mean. Just hurry up._

She pulled on yesterday's clothes with a sigh, looking over at Victoire's wardrobe lustfully. She went over into the sink in the corner and splashed her face, then attempted to control her hair, which looked like a fuzzy red explosion.

There was a knock at the door.

"Roxy, can I come in?" Teddy called.

"Yeah, sure."

She took one last look in the mirror, finally deciding that she was presentable.

Teddy walked in carrying two pieces of toast, and stopped dead when he caught sight of her.

"You look beautiful." He said. He looked as if he was going to carry on, but he stopped himself, shaking his head and pausing, closing and opening his eyes. "Roxy… You understand we can't…"

"Why?" she could think of nothing else to say. Her heart hurt when he opened his mouth to explain.

"Because it would be taking advantage of you. You're sixteen years old, pregnant, and you've been through hell, you don't know what you want. You've never had a serious relationship in your life, this time two years ago I was engaged. Furthermore, I'm your teacher now. It's illegal. I- No Roxy, We can't."

"But I love you."

None of us were expecting that, least of all Roxy. She clapped her hand to her mouth and turned away from him, her face going red.

"Roxy, I…"

"No, I'm sorry, I… we need to leave. Come on."

He took her hand, and, just for a second, stared into her eyes. Then he turned on the spot and Roxy heard the familiar cracking noise.

* * *

><p>"And so if you look up at the screen you should now be able to see the outline of the child's head. Can you see it? Just there?" The muggle woman traced the shape with her finger, smiling.<p>

Roxy nodded, even though all she could see was a wonky blob.

The muggle woman turned to Teddy. "Well, we've done all the necessary checks, so if you take these pills," She handed Roxy a small bottle labelled 'vitamin supplement', "and eat healthily, you should soon be proud parents, congratulations."

Teddy stepped forwards, "What? No… we're not… I'm just a friend of the family."

She winked at Roxy, "This one's a keeper; he really cares about you."

Teddy and Roxy both went bright red, and Teddy said hurriedly, "Alright Roxy, we should get home now, your Dad will kill me if I don't have you back soon."

"Alright."

When they were out of the building, Teddy turned to Roxy.

"Here," He pulled a bar of chocolate out of his pocket and handed it to her, "You've been so brave."

She took the chocolate and smiled at him nervously.

"C'mon." He held out his arm and Roxy took it, enjoying the contact a little more than she should have done.

*crack*

No sooner than they arrived Angelina came rushing out of the house and flung her arms around Roxy, kissing her hair and stroking her back.

George stood in the doorway, watching Roxy carefully. Roxy pulled away from her mother, and began to walk towards George.

George didn't move. He didn't even blink. He just watched as Roxy approached him and gently put her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder. Suddenly George woke up, and hugged her back.

"You've been so, so brave princess. And I promise everything will be alright. _Everything_."

He took her hand and led her into the house, and sat down with her on the sofa. Angelina sat on her other side, her hand resting gently on Roxy's shoulder.

"Roxy, princess."

George began to speak, but couldn't finish, he looked down at the floor and began to cry.

"Dad, it's-"

"NO! It's not ok. I wasn't there! I'm supposed to protect you and I wasn't there for you. I… You… You're the most important thing in the world, and I've let you down. I'm a horrible person. I'm a monster."

"Don't you dare. Ever. Say that again." Roxy was shaking with anger. How could he think that? How?

"No. It's true. I wasn't there when you needed me. They hurt you and it's all my fault. I am a monster, and now you- you're-"

"George you shut your mouth right now." Teddy's eyes were ablaze, "Do you know why she didn't tell you about it? Do you know what she was actually afraid of? She was afraid of you reacting like this. Look at her; you're hurting her now far more than they ever could. You know what George? You are a monster. She needs you to be strong now, and you've just hurt her even more. You make me sick." Teddy's lip curled, and he turned away from George and walked into the kitchen, leaving everyone sat in a stunned silence.

George stopped crying. He swallowed, and put his arms around her. This hurt so much more than his words had done. Roxy could feel nothing but guilt. Her hands twisted in her lap, she was unable to hug him back, unable to show any kind of warmth towards him at all, terrified of loving her own Father because of the fear that she would hurt him even more.

"I'm sorry."

Roxy stood up and walked away from him, up the stairs, and into the bedroom she hadn't seen for what seemed like months. The first thing she noticed was her bed; the covers that she had tidied before she left with Teddy were now crumpled and folded. George had been sleeping in it.

She lay down on the bed and inhaled deeply into her pillow. She missed George's smell, and the warm sense of happiness that went with it.

"What do I do, Fred? What do I do?"

_I don't know._

There was a knock at the door. Roxy didn't reply, hoping they would just leave.

The door opened, and Teddy walked in.

"Roxy?" he whispered, "Are you asleep?"

She stayed silent.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Roxy."

She twisted around and sat up, facing him.

He gently wiped away one of her tears, and held it up to the light. It glistened.

"I just wanted to tell you that…"He stopped, and looked straight into her eyes, "That I love you too."

He gently brought his head down towards hers, and, finally, they kissed.

It was not like any of Roxy's wild fantasies; it was so much better. Roxy had never imagined the power one kiss could have over a person. When Teddy pulled away she kept her eyes closed, trying to stay inside the moment, she didn't want to go back to reality; she wanted to stay in that moment, with Teddy, because in that moment I didn't exist, she wasn't pregnant, George didn't matter, Angelina was fine, and Roxy was with Teddy. Everything she had ever wanted was inside that moment, and she didn't want to let it go.

She lay back down on the bed, and for the second night in a row they fell asleep curled in each other's arms.

* * *

><p><strong>George's POV<strong>

I've failed her, my only daughter. Never, ever had I imagined that anything like this could happen to my baby. She must have been so scared. So alone, so frightened, and I wasn't there. Everything's my fault. I encouraged her to rebel at school. I sent her presents whenever she got detentions, and congratulated her when she did wrong. She would have never gone near that house if it wasn't for me. I deserved to die.

I was sat on the landing, leaning against her bedroom door, singing a lullaby to my sleeping princess, my beautiful, broken baby.

When Fred died, I thaught it was the worst thing in the world, that nothing could ever hurt more than that. I was wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I told myself that I should have saved Fred, that I could've done something, but the truth is nothing I could have done would have prevented that from happening. But Roxy… Roxy… I stood up and pushed open the door. I needed to see her. I needed to know that, in that second, she was alright.

Anger. Rage. Pain. My baby! He was touching her, his hands entwined in her hair, cradling her against him.

I started towards them, not knowing what I was going to do. I grabbed my wand; I knew what the spell was. I could hurt him like they hurt her. He deserved it. And he was going to pay for what they did to her…

No.

I saw her face, and I knew that I couldn't do it. She looked so peaceful, so happy, I couldn't wake her, bring her back to reality. And Teddy wouldn't, he's not that kind of person. He loves her almost as much as I do. I put my wand back into my pocket, and took a step closer to them. Her duvet was still pushed right down to the end of the bed where I had left it. It was freezing last night, and I had kicked the quilt off me. I deserved to be cold. I deserved every bit of pain I felt.

But Roxy didn't.

I picked up the duvet and placed it over the two of them. I stiffened as Roxy mumbled something, and then relaxed and backed out of the room, watching her beautiful face for as long as I dared before silently shutting the door and sitting down to cry.

* * *

><p><strong>Rereading to edit and loving the cheesy kissing and angst.<br>Oh Georgie I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you baby!**

Why must I be so cruel.  
>((Edited as of 2806/2012))


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_You know, someone's going to notice if you spend any more time in the library. You haven't even talked to Lily or Rose since you got back. You need to do something for yourself for once._

Roxy didn't listen to me, as usual, and carried on picking books off the shelves, taking them down, leafing through them, and then stuffing them back between the other books with an exasperated sigh.

_Roxy please listen to me. You need to do something else. You'll go mad searching for this._

_You know full well that this is important, Fred. You're just afraid of what we might find out._

I went silent; she was right. She could see into my thoughts as easily as I could see into hers, she knew how scared I was, and she was scared too.

Suddenly she winced, pressing her hand to her forehead to try to stop the pain. We had become accustomed to the headaches. They struck around twice a day now. Usually when she was talking to someone, or giving an answer in class, always at the wrong moments.

That was part of the reason we were here. Why Roxy had been searching through the library so frantically. At first we had thought it was post-traumatic stress or something. But, surprisingly, she wasn't that stressed out, considering everything that had happened to her. So she decided that it was time to find out what was going on between us. Why I was trapped inside her head, if it had ever happened before and whether there was anything we could do about it. So far we had had no luck. The only thing that even came close was Horcruxes, and of course the school had banned any books containing references to them.

The pain in her forehead eased slightly, and she went back to searching through the shelves, becoming more and more desperate as the minutes went on.

"Roxanne, are you looking for something in particular, or trying to read the whole library for a bet?" Professor Thomas, the History of Magic teacher stood over her, smiling kindly.

"No, I'm just looking for something I read about. But it's ok. I'm fine."

She was used to teachers trying to start up conversation with her.

"I'm sure I can help you find it, just tell me what you're looking for."

She looked down, deciding whether it was time to let someone help her.

"Well, I only read about it vaguely, so I'm not very sure what it is. But it seemed like the basic idea was that after a person dies, they can come back, like, trapped inside someone else's mind. It was just something I read in passing and I thought I might like to find out more about it. It doesn't matter really, I'll just…"

She made to walk out of the library, past him, but he moved in front of her, blocking her path.

"Actually, Roxy, I might be able to help you there. You won't be able to find anything about that in the library, not even in the restricted section, it's too closely associated with Horcruxes. You know what they are, right?"

She nodded.

"Well, this is a different kind of magic. It is the same basic principle; if you kill a person then you can split your soul into pieces, and then, once you die, a piece of you can live on. But the difference is that Horcruxes are born out of evil, and this kind magic, known as Flamma Dego, purely happens because of the persons love for another Human being." He paused, "The scenario needed to create one is very unusual. The person needs to die within around one hour of killing another human being, and the person needs to be very brave, and very strong. They must have split their soul unwillingly, not knowing about Horcruxes at the time. Then, when they do die, the surviving piece of their soul begins to follow the person they love the most. Watching over them until they begin to reproduce, the piece of soul can then attach itself to that person's child, usually the firstborn, but there are cases of Flamma Dego in second and third born children. After this, the person remains as a conscious entity in the back of that person's head, unable to be heard, but able to sit back and watch what is going on. It is usually first detected when the witch or wizard first meets a boggart, and the boggart becomes torn between which person's fear to choose, and destroys itself."

Roxy had been off sick in the hospital wing when her defence against the dark arts class had faced Boggarts.

"But sir, are there any cases of somebody being able to hear the person in their head, like, as a voice?"

"Yes, there are a few cases where, after a person has gone through a severe emotional trauma, they become able to talk with the soul trapped inside them."

"And what happens after that?" She asked, pressing him for the answers she so desperately needed.

"Roxy, I'm not an expert on this subject, but I think I do have a book on it in my office. If you wait here for a few minutes then I can go and get it for you."

"Yes, thank-you, that would be great." She smiled after him as he strode off out of the library and towards his office, which was only on the floor above the library; she estimated we had five minutes at the most to talk.

_I didn't know you killed someone. _She thought quietly, almost shyly.

_I… It was sort of an accident. During the battle I tried to stun a death eater, but he fell backwards, out of a section of wall that had been blown apart. I tried to reach him, stop him falling, but it was too late, I… _I stopped, she understood. She didn't judge me for being a murderer. She knew how much it hurt me to know that I was responsible for his death.

_So, you followed Dad around until I was born? How come you never told me about it?_

_I had no Idea; I can't remember any of it._

_Oh. _She was surprised, but didn't discuss any further, she simply watched the door, waiting for Professor Thomas to return.

When he did, he carried an extremely old and dusty book underneath his arm. He passed it to her, smiling.

She took it carefully, looking at the front cover carefully before tucking it under her arm.

"Thank-you sir, I'll go and start reading it now. When do you want it back?"

"You know what Roxy? You can keep it. I haven't read it for years, and I'd completely forgotten I had it." He began to leave, and then turned around, "Say hi to Ron for me when you next see him will you?"

She nodded, and hurried out of the library towards the common room. She was in such a rush that she walked straight into Teddy, dropping the book to the floor with a loud thud.

She snatched it up, and carried on down the corridor, ignoring his shouts.

She heard him running after her, and sped up, dodging down a secret passageway that she was pretty sure that she didn't know about.

Sure enough, she heard him walk past, confusedly calling out her name, wondering where she had gone.

Roxy stood still for a few seconds, listening for him to leave, and then ducked out of the passageway and set off towards the common room, in the opposite direction to Teddy.

When she arrived she walked over to the corner near to the fire and properly looked at the book.

"Flamma Dego: A guide to restless souls." She read, tracing the gold lettering on the cover.

Slowly she opened it up, and looked through the contents.

_There! Look! Chapter 27: When Souls Speak._

She flipped to that page and began to read.

'The majority of Flamma Dego's, or Flammas, as they are more commonly known, stay silent and unknown through the victim's life.'

_'The victim'? _I asked, _Nice one._

_Shhh, _she laughed.

Roxy kept on reading.

'However, after going through something traumatic or distressing, the victim and the Flamma will become able to talk to each other, which can lead to…'

She skim read the next paragraph; it only described what was happening to her.

'But there is not enough room in one body for two souls to live together, and, after two or three months, the souls will, unknowingly, begin to fight each other for control. Causing them to suffer from sudden and violent headaches, which increase in frequency and severity, and eventually brief spells of each of them disappearing. 10-12 months after the souls first began to speak to converse, one soul will take control completely, and the other shall simply fade from existence.'

_Roxy stop reading._

'More often than not, the 'winning' soul is the Flamma Dego, being older and having already proven that they have an exceptionally strong mind.'

_Roxy stop._

'There is nothing either of the souls can do to stop this, no way has been found of preventing this, or giving up yourself to let the other soul live. They must simply wait for what is inevitably going to happen.'

_ROXY STOP READING NOW!_ I screamed at her, and she closed the book, tossing it onto the floor.

_Roxy?_

_No. Don't speak. Just…_

She lent forwards and put her face in her hands, sobbing quietly.

"Roxy?" Albus put his arm around her, holding her to him, letting her sob into his shoulder.

She didn't answer. She didn't have to.

I needed to do something; I needed to find a way to stop this. I needed to… I don't know. I just needed to stop this. There had to be a way.

Roxy continued crying, not listening to Albus' words of comfort. Albus had no Idea. He really had no Idea just how bad this was.

I tried to bury myself. To disappear, stop being. I curled up inside the back of her mind and tried to die. Tried to let myself fade into non-existence, because I couldn't be the one to kill Roxy. Maybe If I just let my mind go blank, and stay silent, pretend I'm not even here…

_fred_

The voice was quiet, but it sounded urgent, almost like a shout from very far away.

_Fred_

The voice was louder now, more urgent.

_FRED! FRED PLEASE!_

Ow, very loud. I could feel tears running down my cheeks. Fear building in the pit of my stomach. It was difficult to remember who I was, where I was.

Then I remembered.

_Roxy! I… What's…?_

_Fred! I thaught you were dead. I couldn't find you. You were gone. I thought I had killed you._

She was weeping, alone in the dormitory, sitting on her bed.

_Roxy, what happened?_ I asked, trying to comfort her, _How long have I been gone?_

_I… I don't know. Albus told me to get some sleep, even though it was lunchtime. I was so preoccupied that I didn't notice you were gone. I… I fell asleep, and when I woke up just now you were… were… Never ever leave me again Fred, please. I don't know what I would do without you._

_But Roxy this is your life. My life's been and gone, it's over, I've lived, I've died, it's over now. You deserve to live. Not me._

_But I can't live without you._ She thought, tears starting to flow again.

Roxy didn't realise how much this hurt me. I wanted nothing more than to be alive, to be able to hold her in my arms and tell her it was alright. I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to be the voice in her head. I wanted to be her uncle, someone who could hold her and tell her that it was going to be alright.

_I think you should tell Teddy._

She paused.

_What? Why? Why would I ever even imagine doing that?_

She was so confused. She didn't see.

_Roxy you need someone real to help you. And he is the only person you trust. Besides, you need to apologise to him for what happened earlier._

_What?_ She had forgotten already.

_You ran away from him, remember?_

_Oh yeah._

She stayed where she was.

_Are you going to go and see him?_

_What? Oh, yeah, I mean, I don't know. _

She stood up, and caught sight of the clock opposite her bed. It was half past two.

_You've got double potions now anyway. C'mon, let's go._

She reluctantly picked up her bag, and began to walk towards the door, half way there she stopped.

_Fred._

_Yes?_

_I know you don't… But I mean… Please, just promise me you'll never ever leave me again._

I didn't say anything. I couldn't lie to her.

_Please. I need you._

_Roxy, you know I can't do that._

_Please!_

_I… _She needed to hear the lie more than she needed to know the truth.

_I promise Roxy._

* * *

><p>Everybody was half way through making the potions when she walked in, and Albus gave her an encouraging smile as she walked past.<p>

"Sorry I'm late professor, I just-"

"Not a problem Roxy, Albus explained everything. Why don't you go and work with Lily, there isn't any point you starting now." He glanced at his watch, and then smiled at her.

"Sir that isn't fair! I arrived five minutes late and you gave me a detention!" She turned to see Scorpius looking annoyed. He smiled at her, but she raised her eyebrows, and turned back to Teddy.

"Yes Scorpius, and Roxy will be staying behind after class to help me clean out the cauldrons. But for now will you get on with your work please?"

She bit her lip, watching Teddy. It was impossible to read his expression.

She and Lily worked in silence, Roxy dreading the end of the lesson.

"Roxy will you please just say something?"

Roxy jumped, and looked up at Lily.

"Huh?"

"You haven't spoken one word to me since you've got here, not even hello. What's up?"

She looked concerned, but Roxy just shook her head and went back to her work. Around them, other students chatted excitedly.

"Also, I've got a bone to pick with you." She said, in a jokey, but still slightly irritated tone of voice.

"What'd I do?" She asked, trying her best to look cheerful.

"You told Dad about me and Scorp."

"What?" She didn't remember.

"I got a letter from him this morning. He wants me to break up with him."

"Huh? That was weeks ago! And I never told him it was Scorpius!"

"Yeah well, he told James, and now James has attacked Scorpius!"

She glanced over at Scorp, and saw that he did look shaken up.

"You can hardly blame them for being overprotective."

"Why? Why aren't I allowed to have a boyfriend? I don't see any reason that I can't-"

"Because when I _accidentally_ told him, he was half way through questioning me about what happened in the shack." Roxy's voice wavered.

"Oh."

Lily looked down, avoiding Roxy's eyes.

"Alright people, ten minutes left. Now your potions should nearly be ready, so once you've added the Snargaluff pods you can stir it until it turns…" he paused, and pointed to his head, "This colour." His hair changed to a poisonous looking shade of green, "And then you should be done."

The class laughed, and Teddy grinned cheekily back at them. He had got into trouble for using his metamorphagus skills during lessons, somebody had thaught it might distract the students.

The last ten minutes passed agonisingly slowly, and Roxy winced when she finally heard the bell ring.

She helped Lily tidy away the ingredients, and then stood silently while the other students filed out of the classroom, Albus giving her an encouraging smile.

"Hey, move it fatty." A slytherin girl shoved her out of the way as she walked out of the classroom, and Roxy fell backwards with a loud gasp.

Strong arms grabbed her before she hit the floor, and she looked up to see Teddy, his eyes filled with rage.

"Detention, Miss Needham, and twenty points from Slytherin, that kind of behaviour is extremely dangerous and will not be tolerated at Hogwarts." He placed Roxy back on her feet, and stood with his arm still around her, facing the Slytherins.

The girl who had pushed Roxy turned back to her friends, and whispered something. We couldn't hear, but Teddy was closer, and he jumped away from Roxy at her words, going bright red.

"That is a further twenty points from Slytherin and a whole weeks' worth of detentions, for all of you if you don't get moving quickly."

He chased the remaining few students from the classroom, and closed the door after them, turning back to face Roxy.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" he asked, surprisingly calmly.

She nodded, and followed him into his office, not daring to look him in the eye.

He made the tea quickly, and gestured for her to sit down on the squashy leather sofa in the corner, sitting down next to her and passing her a mug with a picture of a kitten on it.

"Albus says you were crying in the common room this morning, he said he thought it might have something to do with this." He held up the book she had borrowed from Professor Thomas, raising his eyebrows. "This is dark magic, Roxy, and you are not allowed to have this book inside the school, now I don't know where you got it from but…"

He trailed off, noticing her tears.

"Roxy, what's the-"

"Chapter 27." She said, looking away from him, her hands shaking.

She heard the pages of the book rustle as he turned to the chapter.

_What do you think he'll do? _She asked me.

_I don't know. It's- It's going to be ok though, he'll know what to do._

_I don't want you to leave._

I didn't answer, what could I tell her?

"Roxy," Teddy reached up and touched her face, wiping her tears away with his thumb, turning her head so he could look into her eyes.

"Fred?" He asked, looking deep into her.

She nodded, and he exhaled deeply, as if trying to calm himself.

"Does George know?"

"Kind of, he knows that me and Fred have a… connection. I don't think he knows it's like that."

"So one of you will… win?" he closed his eyes as he said the word, a look of pain on his face.

She nodded, more tears streaming from her cheeks.

"I don't want him to die for me." She whispered, leaning into Teddy.

_I don't want you to die for me either._

Teddy put his arms around her, and let her cry into him. It was obvious that he had no idea what to say.

"Shhh, don't cry. It's alright."

It wasn't alright. Nothing was alright.

"Roxy, listen to me, ok? Just talk to me for a minute, ok? We need to sort this out."

She nodded, and looked at him. He didn't look angry, or upset. He only looked kind.

"Is he listening now?"

"Yes."

"What does he say?"

"He says you remind him of your Dad."

He smiled, and she saw a small tear form in the corner of his eye.

"What does he say about all of this?"

"He's been trying to find ways of… burying himself." She said.

"He thinks you should be the one to survive?" Teddy asked carefully.

"Yes."

They lapsed into silence, and Teddy kissed the top of her head, hugging her tight.

He closed her eyes and leaned into him, letting herself cry once more.

She cried for hours; there was so much that hurt, and she needed to get it all out. Teddy comforted her, wiping away her tears, kissing her forehead, until finally we fell asleep.

* * *

><p>When we woke up it was morning, and Roxy was lying in her bed in Gryffindor tower, still wearing her school clothes from the day before.<p>

She looked up, and saw the clock; it was seven a.m.

Sitting up, she looked over and saw Lily and Rose sat at the end of her bed, watching her.

"Lily? Rose?" She asked, "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you to wake up." Lily answered.

"Why?"

"We need to talk to you about something."

_This can't be good, _I told Roxy.

"What is it?" She asked suspiciously.

Lily and Rose looked at each other, and rose blushed.

"I… we think you should stop seeing Teddy- Professor Lupin, I mean." Rose said, looking down.

We hadn't been expecting that.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Rose glanced at Lily, "Teddy's great… he's like a brother to all of us, but… After everything that's happened to you, you're not… We don't think it's a god idea for you to have a relationship with him."

They both looked deadly serious.

"What? How can-? What?" Roxy was utterly bemused, she had to be hearing this wrong.

"Roxy, we're serious. You've been through hell, and he's been taking advantage of you."

Roxy was angry now, "No! Just no! How can you think Teddy would do that?"

"We're not stupid you know. We can tell exactly what's going on!"

Roxy sat back down, shaking her head at them.

"You know Teddy. We grew up with him. He would never, ever do anything like that. Lily, what could possibly make you think that?"

"Well then explain what you were doing yesterday? Teddy gives you a detention at the end of potions, and then nobody sees either of you for hours, then Teddy sneaks in here at ten o clock at night carrying you fast asleep in his arms! Explain that to us! Go on!"

Lily folded her arms across her chest, smiling in the smug way she always did when she thought she had just proved a point.

Roxy fought to control her breathing, trying to keep calm. She couldn't believe they thought Teddy could do that.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, Teddy had realised how upset I was and was actually trying to comfort me. Maybe it never crossed your mind that while you guys were having fun at dinner I was crying my eyes out. Yes I like Teddy, and yes he likes me too. But he would never ever do anything like that, and I cannot believe that I have to explain that to you."

She stood up, grabbed some clean clothes out of her trunk, and ran into the bathroom, fuming.

_How can they possibly think that? How?_

I thought carefully before answering.

_Well, I suppose when you think about it from their point of view…_

She angrily pulled on her clothes, glaring at the floor.

_Yes, but they know Teddy! He's the most honourable person I've ever met. He said himself that he wouldn't go there!_

There was a knock at the bathroom door.

"Roxy? Can I come in?"

It was Rose.

Roxy pulled on her trousers, noticing that they were getting a bit tight.

"Go away."

"Roxy we're really sorry we jumped to conclusions. Just let us in, please."

Roxy stormed over to the door and wrenched it open. Lily and Rose both jumped back, their eyes going wide with fear at Roxy's expression.

"How? Just explain to me how you could ever think that he would do that? He is the most honourable and kind person I know. How?"

Lily shook her head, "I'm sorry, Roxy. I guess we're just really worried about you, and we wanted to protect you."

Rose looked up suddenly.

"Lily, we need to go do something about the- that _thing_." She emphasized the word, gesturing towards the dormitory door with her head.

"Shit!" Lily exclaimed, panic in her eyes, "I'll go! You stay here with Roxy."

Rose nodded, and smiled back at Roxy as Lily tore away down the stairs.

"What was that about?" She asked.

"Um, nothing… It's just…" she glanced over her shoulder, "Anyway," she continued, "You're sure nothing has happened between you two?"

"Yes." Roxy looked down, her cheeks turning red.

"You're lying! Something did happen! Tell me!" she took Roxy's shoulders and began shaking her.

"It… It was nothing, just one kiss. I swear we never did anything else!"

She looked at Rose, expecting her to be angry, surprised to find her grinning mischievously.

"You lucky, lucky bitch. Why can't Teddy snog me?"

Roxy was surprised and a little scared by this reaction. That was not what she expected at all.

"Rose, what's Lily gone to do?"

Now it was Rose's turn to go red.

"I… Well Roxy, me and Lily weren't the only ones to get the wrong end of the stick."

Roxy was confused, "I don't understand."

Rose had a look of absolute pain on her face. She touched Roxy's shoulder, attempting to keep her calm.

"James, Fred and Louis have… gone to…" she paused, grimacing, "…Talk to Teddy."

Roxy screwed her eyes closed.

"Shit."

* * *

><p><strong>Hello.<br>I'm tired.  
>Should probably sleep.<br>Nah.  
><strong>((Edited as of 2806/2012))**  
><strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Roxy bolted along the potions corridor, ignoring Rose's shouts from behind her. She had to reach Teddy in time, if they had hurt him…

She skidded into the potions classroom and began rushing over to the door of his office. But she stopped, hearing the tone of his voice.

"I'm glad that you all shared your concerns with me, I understand exactly how you feel." Teddy paused, and Roxy leaned closer to the door, trying not to make a sound, "I… Fred, James, will you please stop pointing your wands at me. I believe I've made it clear that you jumped to the wrong conclusions."

"Sorry." She heard James mutter.

"I don't believe you." Fred's voice was shaky, and he sounded angry and sad at the same time.

"Fred, I promise you that I would never hurt your sister. She means the world to me and I just couldn't-" he stopped suddenly, realising what he had said.

Rose skidded to a stop behind Roxy, and Roxy pressed a finger to her lips, putting her ear against the door, a smile forming on her lips.

"So you do like Roxy!" Fred yelled angrily, "I'll kill you if you hurt her! Leave her alone!"

"Fred, please calm down." Teddy sounded strained but calm, Roxy was grateful for him; he knew exactly what to do. "I understand that you're angry, and scared, and worried. But cursing me will only upset her more."

"Fred listen to him, he wouldn't hurt Roxy." Louis spoke for the first time, and Roxy, peering through the keyhole, saw him facing Fred, whose wand still pointed directly at Teddy's face. Beside him, James had once again raised his wand.

"I don't believe you." Tears fell from Fred's cheeks, and Roxy stood up, looking away from the door.

"I understand." Teddy still sounded calm.

"No you don't! Stay away from her!" Fred was yelling again, and Roxy was consumed by guilt.

_I never even thought about him, he must feel so terrible._

_Shhh, it's ok._

I comforted her, and Rose patted her shoulder gently.

"Fred, I understand that you feel guilty for what happened, and worried about what she's going through. You can't even bear to imagine anything else happening to her, everywhere you see things that could hurt her more, and all you want to do is to keep her safe. At the same time, you're just so angry it hurts, and you need to find somebody to blame for everything that's happened." Teddy stopped, and we heard him take a deep breath, "Fred, I am in love with Roxanne, and I would do anything for her. But I would never, ever take advantage of her. She means everything to me, and I couldn't live without her."

There was a long pause, and Roxy tried hard to stop herself from grinning.

"Have I said too much?" Teddy asked quietly.

Roxy took a step forwards and pushed open the door.

Three faces turned to stare at her. Fred, however, kept his eyes fixed on Teddy, wand still raised.

Teddy's mouth opened, and then closed again, he gaped at Roxy, going bright red, for a minute Roxy considered saying something to him, but then she spotted Fred.

He was still crying, tears dripping from his cheeks onto the floor. Beside him, James looked livid.

_No, this is all wrong. They shouldn't be fighting._

Roxy, too, began to cry. She sat down in the middle of the room and buried her face in her hands.

"Roxy it's alright, please, what's wrong? Tell me, I can help." Fred had rushed to her side, putting his arm around her, his wand dropping to the floor with a clatter.

She pulled away from him, "I'm sorry, Fred. I'm really, really sorry."

"No. What have you possibly got to be sorry for?"

"I've caused you all so much pain, and it's all my fault." She wept, leaning into him, "I'm sorry."

The room filled with protests, everyone began yelling at Roxy.

_Roxy this is NOT your fault. None of it._

_But it is._

"Roxy," Everyone went silent at the sound of Teddy's voice, and I was struck once again by how much like Remus he was, "This is not your fault." He held up his hand as she tried to protest, "Yes, you made a mistake. You should never have gone into the house by yourself. But it was not your fault."

The room was quiet for a few minutes, and Fred stood up, one hand still resting on Roxy's shoulder. He walked over to Teddy, and stuck his hand out.

Teddy took it, and the two shook hands, Fred smiling sadly.

"Alright, now I suggest we all go and get some breakfast. Fred, why don't you lead the way?"

Everybody filed out, one by one, leaving Roxy alone with Teddy.

"Did you really mean what you said before?" she asked, looking at the floor.

Teddy nodded, "Every word."

She smiled nervously, unsure of what to do.

He stepped forwards, and took her hand, looking deep into her eyes.

"You understand that I'm your teacher, and that while I'm your teacher, this is illegal?"

She nodded.

"For now can we just… Be there for each other? Is that enough?"

"Yeah." She nodded again, and took his hand.

"Alright then," He shifted his hair into a blue Mohawk, grinning mischievously.

"Come on, let's get some breakfast."

She followed him out of the room, grinning slightly, despite everything that had happened that morning.

* * *

><p>"Come on Gryffindor!" Roxy yelled, waving the golden and red flag in the air."<p>

The players on the pitch swooped past each other, passing the quaffle between them. Roxy had given up on listening to the commentary, it was just too complicated.

"IT'S WEASLEY WITH THE QUAFFLE! WEASLEY, PASSES TO OTHER WEASLEY, WHO PASSES TO OTHER WEASLEY, OOH, NEARLY INTERCEPTED BY PARKINSON. NOPE, STILL WEASLEY WITH THE QUAFFLE, PASSAS TO HART. HART PASSES BACK TO WEASLEY- THE FIRST WEASLEY- AND WEASLEY SCORES! TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!"

She cheered wildly, jumping up and down with the Gryffindor's around her. Rose grabbed her arm.

"You shouldn't be jumping around like that; you're pregnant for god's sake." She whispered, a little more loudly than she should have.

There was a loud gasp from behind them.

They turned around to see a group of fourth year girls staring at Roxy, nudging each other and muttering.

"Shi- no, please." Roxy begged desperately, and the tallest first year, a pretty girl with long black hair stepped forwards.

"Hello… Roxy isn't it? Well, I'm sorry, can't stop to chat. Places to go… people to speak to." She smiled smugly, and disappeared off into the crowd, followed by her first year friends.

"Roxy I'm sorry," Rose's eyes were full of tears, "I didn't think. I'm sorry."

"Rose, it's fine." Roxy was trying her best not to hyperventilate, "No, really. It's fine. I just need to…"

She began to walk away through the crowds, following the first year girl, trying to see where the girl was going.

She saw her reaching the commentators podium, and whispering something into Ben, the commentator's ear.

She saw Ben gasp and laugh, then carry on commentating, nodding at the girl with a look of smug satisfaction on his face.

Rose caught her arm, staring at the commentator's podium with her. They exchanged horrified glances, and Roxy began to run towards the exit, covering her face.

Outside the stands, she could hear the commentary.

"WOW, GREAT GOAL BLOCK THERE BY WEASLEY. FRED WEASLEY, BROTHER OF ROXANNE WEASLEY, WHO, INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH IS PREGNANT IN CASE ANYBODY'S INTERESTED."

She heard a roar from the crowd, and she ran back into the castle, sobbing.

_Roxy, it's ok._

_It's not. Don't lie. I can read your mind just as easily as you can read mine, remember? It is NOT ok._

She reached the entrance hall and tore up the marble staircase, still sobbing.

She reached an empty classroom and ran inside, slamming the door behind her. She walked over into a corner, and curled up into a ball on the floor, hugging her knees.

_Roxy?_ I asked tentatively.

_Fred, I don't- _"Ahhh."

She let out a sigh of pain, another violent headache had struck.

This was the worst one yet.

It felt like the inside of her head was on fire. She beat her hands against the stone floor, screaming.

_FRED DO SOMETHING!_

_I'M TRYING! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!_

The pain was unbearable, and her screaming was so loud. Someone must hear. Someone must come soon.

The door swung open, and we heard feet running across the room towards us. Hands grabbed Roxy's shoulders, and someone was shouting her name, over and over.

She collapsed, unconscious, on the floor.

* * *

><p>"Roxy?" the voice was deep, and though it sounded familiar, I couldn't put my finger on who it was. "Roxy? Are you ok?"<p>

I groaned and sat up, bringing my hands up to my head.

"Roxy? Are you alright?"

I opened my eyes. Teddy's face swam into view, blue eyes looking concerned, and his hair a mousy brown colour.

"Teddy?" I asked.

I was confused. I couldn't remember what was going on. Nothing made sense.

"Roxy?" He stepped backwards, fear in his eyes.

Looking past him, I saw we were in the hospital wing. Only one other bed was taken, and its occupant was wrapped so heavily in bandages I couldn't tell who it was.

Teddy took hold of my hand, looking deeply into my eyes.

"Roxy, is that you?" tears swam in the corner of his eyes, and his hair turned slightly grey.

Then I remembered.

Fear. Pain. Anger.

_Roxy where are you?_

Teddy saw me panicking. He knew. He knew she was gone.

_Please, Roxy, come back!_

I was crying, and so was Teddy.

"We'll get her back. I promise we'll get her back." He whispered.

I lay back on the bed, closing my -Roxy's- eyes.

Teddy left, and I was alone.

_Roxy, where are you?_

Was she trapped, like I had been, unable to let me hear her? Or had I…? No. Roxy couldn't be dead. She couldn't. It wasn't possible.

I tried to think back to the book, what had it said? Something about headaches, I remembered that part.

_Brief spells of each of them disappearing._

Brief… Brief… That meant she would some back soon, right?

_Duh._

It took me a few seconds to register the voice that had spoken.

_ROXY!_

_Hello._

I sat up again, looking around for Teddy. He needed to know she was ok.

_I thought you were dead._

She didn't answer.

_Here, you should…_

I mentally handed her back control of her body, and she sat up, looking around the hospital wing. The clock said it was three o'clock. Just half an hour had passes since we were at the quidditch game, in fact, the game would probably still be on.

_Do you remember what happened?_

_No._

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, wobbling a little.

_Teddy needs to know that I'm ok._

She walked slowly towards the door, still a little shaky.

"Roxanne Weasley, where do you think you are going?" Madam Abbott's shrill voice echoed through the room.

Roxy turned around.

"Uhh,"

"Get back into bed this instant. You need rest."

"But I'm fine now!" She insisted.

"You collapsed, Roxanne. You're suffering from a combination of stress and over tiredness. Being pregnant doesn't help either." She took Roxy's shoulders and marched her back over to the bed. "I insist that you get some sleep."

"No, I'm fine!"

"You need to rest. Now please, let me give you a sleeping draught. And when you wake up, your family should be here."

She pressed a glass of poisonous looking pink liquid into Roxy's hands, and, reluctantly, she drunk it.

She started to feel drowsy almost instantly, and didn't complain when Madam Abbott lay her back down on the bed, pushing her head down into the pillow.

* * *

><p>"Shhh, I think she's waking up."<p>

Roxy opened her eyes, gathered around her bed stood Lily, Rose, Albus, Hugo, Louis and Molly.

"How are you feeling Roxy?" Albus lent forwards, giving her a small smile.

She blinked, and sat up, looking around at her cousins.

She was still in the hospital wing, but the light in the windows was darker, it looked like it was early evening. She must have been asleep for hours.

A guilty looking Rose spoke up, "Do you remember what happened? At the Quidditch match?"

Roxy nodded, "Don't worry Rose, it wasn't your fault."

Rose didn't look comforted.

"Listen, Rose, do you know how you can make it up to me?"

"I'll do anything."

"Go and find Teddy, tell him I'm ok."

Rose began to leave.

"No, wait! Tell him, 'Roxanne is in the hospital wing'"

Rose looked puzzled.

"But he knows that, he was the one that brought you here."

"Just… please, for me."

Rose raised her eyebrows, but walked out of the hospital wing without complaint.

_Where are Fred and James?_ I asked Roxy curiously.

"Where's Fred?" She asked slowly.

Her cousins exchanged shifty looks.

"Where are they?" she demanded fiercely.

"Well, after the commentator announced it to everyone, James and Fred sort of…" Louis had a pained look on his face as he spoke.

"They attacked him, right in the middle of the game!" Molly said, "It was quite funny really, they flew straight into the stands and started hexing him."

"Oh Merlin…" Roxy looked down. This was typical of them, never thinking.

"Look, that's him, over there."

Roxy peered over to the bed containing the bandaged boy. He was surrounded by Ravenclaws, who kept throwing hateful looking glances over at Roxy.

"Hugo, will you go and ask Madam Abbott if I can leave yet?"

"'Course." He nodded, and walked off towards her office.

"What happened to the game?"

"We were slaughtered; we'd lost our seeker and our best chaser. We had no chance." Louis said, looking glum.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

For once no-one questioned her apology.

Madam Abbott strolled towards her, and studied her carefully.

"I strongly recommend that you stay overnight, however, if you feel well enough to leave now there's nothing I can do about it." She said irritably.

Without thought Roxy jumped out of bed. She was still wearing her robes, and she found her shoes on the floor beside the bed.

"Roxanne," Madam Abbott's voice was stern, "Please don't let yourself get stressed."

"Of course, Madam Abbott." Roxy smiled, and took Molly's arm, walking out of the hospital wing.

The entrance hall was crowded and noisy, and the other students were laughing at chatting excitedly to each other.

Roxy kept her head down as she walked past, trying not to draw attention to herself.

"Slag."

The voice was not loud, but it seemed to echo through the students, who were now nudging each other and pointing at Roxy.

"I bet it was Professor Lupin! I knew he was a creep!"

Tears sprung up in the corner of Roxy's eyes, and she hurried across the room, finding Lily's hand.

Someone pushed her, and she stumbled, recovering quickly in time to start running up the marble staircase.

"Nah, I reckon it was Scorpius Malfoy. You've seen how he flirts with her."

Roxy ran faster, trying to block the voices out of her head.

"Roxy slow down!" Lily was chasing after her, panting.

Roxy ignored her.

"Look, they've gone now, it's fine." Lily called, and Roxy stopped, turning to face her cousin.

Lily put an arm around her and patted her back, letting her cry into her shoulder.

_Roxy, you should go and see Teddy._

She silently agreed.

Pulling away from Lily, she smiled sadly.

"I need to go and find Te- Professor Lupin, I mean."

Lily nodded, "I know, do you want me to come with you?"

Roxy shook her head, "No, you need to go and find Scorpius, tell him I'm sorry he's got dragged into this." She set off down a small staircase- the quickest route to the dungeons.

She glanced behind her to see Molly and Albus watching her suspiciously. She ignored them and carried on down the stairs, wondering what Teddy's reaction would be.

The door to his classroom was open, and Roxy was surprised to see Rose sitting on the floor with her back to Teddy's office door.

"Rose? What's going on?" She asked, walking towards her.

"Oh, thank God you're here, he's locked himself in and he won't talk to me. Something's wrong." She stood up, and took Roxy's arm, pointing towards the door.

"Oh shit." Roxy said, "Rose, do me a favour and just go back to Gryffindor tower. I can sort this out."

"What's happened to Teddy?" She asked worriedly.

"Just go Rose, please. You owe me, remember?"

She left, and Roxy took a moment to look at Teddy's office door, trying to decide what to do.

_What do I do?_

_Try Alohamora._

_Not that, about Teddy._

I didn't reply; I had no idea.

She pulled out her wand and pointed it to the door.

"Alohamora."

The lock clicked, and Roxy pushed open the door. For a moment she wondered why Rose hadn't tried the spell, but she was too busy looking for Teddy to worry about it for long.

It was dark in his office; the only light was the moonlight coming in through the window. She shivered as the light fell on her skin, remembering that soon, she wouldn't be able to enjoy the full moon at all.

"Teddy?" she asked into the darkness.

There was no reply.

"Lumos." She muttered, holding her wand up.

The light fell on Teddy's desk, and Roxy gasped at what she saw there.

Teddy looked terrible; his hair was completely grey, and he was slumped over his desk with his head in the middle of the Flamma Dego book; in front of him was an empty bottle of firewhisky.

We couldn't tell if he was asleep or not, we didn't think so though. He was shaking, but we couldn't tell if he was crying or if it was the cold.

She stepped forwards.

"Teddy? It's me, please..."

Roxy wasn't sure what she was going to say next.

She touched his shoulder, and he jerked away from her, sitting up. He still didn't look at her.

"Teddy, it's me, I swear. I'm here."

His face crumpled, and he began sobbing uncontrollably, his face in his hands.

Roxy crouched down next to him, and put her arm around him, leaning into him.

"Teddy please say something."

He pulled away from her, and let out a small sob.

"Please. You're scaring me, Teddy."

He turned to look at her, and she was shocked to see his face.

His eyes were completely black, and deep lines were etched into his forehead. Grey hair fell into his eyes, which were full of tears.

"Teddy, it's alright, I'm back now."

He reached out and touched her cheek, eyes disbelieving.

"Don't be so stupid! Can't you see how much she needs you?"

I hadn't meant to speak, and Roxy jumped at my voice. Teddy's face crumpled.

"I'm sorry." Teddy whispered, still with the same look of pain on his face.

He put his arms around her and kissed her forehead, tears falling from his cheeks and onto her face.

"Please talk to me." She begged.

He tilted up her head and kissed her on the lips, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Teddy," she pulled away from him, "Talk to me."

He shook his head and kissed her again.

_Ok, I could make allowances before, but he knows that I'm here now. Can he not back off just a little bit?_

She supressed a laugh at my sarcastic tone, and pulled away from Teddy again.

"Teddy…"

He wiped the tears from his eyes, and tried to smile.

"I'm sorry," He said again, his voice shaking, "I'm… It's just..."

"Teddy, you are going to tell me everything, right now. I don't care if you think it's stupid, or unimportant, just tell me everything."

Teddy shuddered.

"I… I just… I can't stand losing you." He broke into tears again.

"Ted-"

"I've lost so many people, Roxy, and I can't lose you as well. Mum, Dad, Victoire, Arthur." Roxy had never heard him talk about his parents before, and she didn't know how to react.

"Teddy, I-"

"Victoire was pregnant when she died."

Roxy closed her eyes, trying to take it in.

"Shit, Teddy, it's-"

"No, you don't have to say anything." He stared out of the window, "It's not your fault. It's no-one's fault. I just…"

She buried her head in his shoulder, trying to comfort him simply with her presence.

"And I've just been searching through this book, trying to find a way to save you." His voice rose higher, and then broke, and suddenly he was sobbing into her hair.

"Shh, Teddy, it's alright. I'll be fine. Everything will be ok, I promise." She told him, hugging him tightly.

_I can't do this. I can't do this. Help me, Fred._

I didn't answer. I was just as taken aback as she was.

_Harry._ I thought quietly, and she immediately jumped to her feet, pulling away from Teddy.

She tried to block out his reaction, and crossed the room, finding his owl, Buttons, perched in its cage, watching her with its large amber eyes.

She found a pile of Parchment and a quill, and hurriedly began to scribble a letter.

_Uncle Harry,_

_I need your help; all hell's broken loose here. Teddy's having an emotional breakdown, James and Fred have tried to murder the Quidditch commentator, the whole school knows I'm pregnant, Hugo and Louis have decided they want to be Goths, and Teddy's owl just bit me. I'm totally freaking out, please help me._

_Roxy_

She began tying the letter to the owl's leg when all of the lights turned on and someone behind her spoke.

"Roxy, are you alright?"

She spun around and saw Harry standing in the middle of the room.

"Harry! How did you know?"

"The headmaster called George and me in after Fred and James' little incident." The corner of his lips twitched, "Rose met me and told me you might need my help down here." He said, looking from Teddy to Roxy.

"Yeah, Teddy's having an emotional breakdown and he won't listen to me. Will you try to talk to him?" She pleaded.

"Yes, of course." He moved over to Teddy's side and put a hand on his shoulder, "I think George is in the Gryffindor common room," He said quietly, still speaking to Roxy, "He wants to talk to you."

She nodded, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

The common room was crowded when she walked in; most of the students were gathered round the small table in front of the fire, where a large selection on Weasley's Wizard Wheezes had been left out for people to sample.

George stood up when he saw her, and walked over immediately to give her a huge hug.

"Dad, it's alright." She said quickly. She wasn't quite sure why, but she was beginning to well up, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"Hey, Hey, Shh, don't cry, don't cry. It's alright." He glanced around at the other students, who were watching interestedly, "C'mon princess, we're going for a walk."

She nodded, and followed him through the portrait hole, out into the night.

* * *

><p><strong>Third person POV<strong>

"I'm sorry, Harry, I just… I can't lose her, I can't lose anyone else."

"It's alright Teddy, I know you're scared for her, but she's strong, and she can get through this. She's proven how brave she is, and look, everyone's taking care of her. How can anything else happen to her now?"

Teddy began to sob even harder, shaking in Harry's arms.

"You don't understand, you have no idea what this is really about."

Harry stroked the other man's hair, trying to comfort him.

"Then tell me what it is really about," He said quietly, "I can help her. I can make her better."

Harry's breath was caught in his throat, he couldn't think properly. He was torn between wanting to comfort Teddy properly, and needing to find out what had happened to Roxy now.

"Teddy," He said, trying to sound calm, "Whatever has happened to her, we can deal with it. But you have to tell me what it is."

Teddy sat up, pulling away from Harry, not knowing what to do. He couldn't betray her by telling him, but then, what choice did he have? He had to find a way to save her. Harry had access to resources at the Ministry, he had contacts. He could find a way to help.

The book still lay underneath his hands, open at the page where Teddy had been reading. He pushed it towards Harry, "Chapter 27." He murmured, echoing Roxy's words. "Fred."

* * *

><p><strong>Still going through and editing. Hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to finish doing this and write the next chapter of beloved and update my other stories. Please do check out my other stories by the way, especially if you liked this one; in my opinion they are both better than this one so just give them a try. There's Turned to Dust, about Fred Weasley II having terminal cancer, which is kind of depressing but I like it. And then Kiss Goodbye, in which all of the next gen kids are put into the Huger Games, because I enjoy torturing fictional characters. Mwahahahaha.<br>((Edited as of 08/07/2012))**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Third person POV (Still)**

"Harry? Are you alright? You look awful."

Ginny walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, looking concerned.

When he didn't reply he began to look positively panicked, "Harry? Please say something. James can't have done anything that bad… Could he?"

"No, Ginny, I'm fine, James was just- the usual. I think I just need to sit down." He said slowly.

She nodded, taking his coat from him and hanging it up, before following him through to the living room and sitting down beside him, gently squeezing his hand.

"What's happened? Is somebody hurt?"

He barely even heard her, he just couldn't think properly.

Fred was… is… His mind wouldn't process it. Should he be happy that he was still alive in some way? Or horrified that he had been trapped inside her head like a prisoner for so long? And what about Roxy? Roxy… He lent forwards and put his face in his hands, trying to imagine just what it was like for her. At first he had been pleased, glad that she wasn't suffering by herself, he knew Fred; Fred would have helped her through everything, he would keep on helping her. But then, if only one of them could… The phrase 'Neither can live while the other survives' popped into his head, and he shuddered ever so slightly.

"Harry? Please, who is it? Who's been hurt? It isn't- Nothing else has happened to Roxy, has it? Please tell me nothing else has happened to Roxy." Her voice was shaking as she said the last few words.

He looked up, and shook his head, "No, Roxy's fine. It's just… You know. I got a chance to talk to her today. It's just unbelievable how brave she's being." He knew he couldn't tell Ginny, none of the Weasleys could ever know. He remembered what it had been like for the first few months after Fred had died. He couldn't let any of them go back to that. And what about George? How would he cope? His daughter and his twin, fighting each other for survival.

**_Subconsciously_**_ fighting each other_, he corrected himself, gritting his teeth; he knew without a doubt that if either of them had any choice Fred would give up his life in a second.

Once Harry had calmed Teddy down enough to talk to him properly, Teddy had explained everything he knew. And Teddy… He had no doubt that if Roxy lost, Teddy would never recover. He couldn't lose anyone else.

Harry shuddered again, and Ginny tightened her grip on his arm.

"Harry," She looked straight into his eyes, "I don't know if you're trying to protect me, or somebody else, but please tell me what's going on." She pleaded. She had never seen him like this before, and it scared her. For the first time he was completely closed to her, turning away whenever she tried to look him in the eye. "I love you, but please don't be like this."

He tried to smile at her, but all he could manage was a shaky grimace.

"I'm sorry, Ginny; I didn't mean to scare you. It's just… When I was leaving the castle, I decided I should visit the shack." He wasn't lying, he had gone straight to the shack after leaving the castle, "I should have done it ages ago, but I just couldn't. And when I went in I could just see everything they did to her, and I can't-" He broke off, leaning into Ginny's shoulder. He hadn't lied; he had gone into the shack. He let himself cry, feeding off her reassurances, not even caring that the comforts she whispered had nothing to do with his actual pain.

After half an hour Ginny mumbled something about going to bed, and walked away up the stairs, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.

Finally he, too stood up, but instead of going to bed, like Ginny had, he walked into the kitchen, and began to write a letter.

* * *

><p><strong>Fred I POV<strong>

_Dear Roxy,_

_You've been incredibly brave. Not many people could deal with what you have to right now, you're being so strong, and I promise I'm doing everything I can to make this easier for you._

_Teddy told me everything. About Fred. The first thing I want to tell you is that learning this has not changed my opinion of you at all. You're still Roxanne Weasley, and I'm not going to treat you any differently than I would normally. Secondly, at the ministry, I have access to huge resources, and I am spending every second of my spare time trying to find a way to save you. I know you don't agree, or believe me, but you have a right to life. Fred died, he's done with his living, we've grieved for him, and we miss him very much, but you are more important. If Fred were to win, the pain everyone in this family would go through would be immense, and I know everything would be a thousand times worse for Fred himself. So please, don't do anything stupid, Roxy. If there is a way to ensure your safety I will find it._

_I'm talking straight to you now, Fred. And I want to say thank-you. You've been here for Roxy through everything, and I know you're the only reason she's still sane. Also, just, hello really. We've all missed you so much. After you died things were horrible, no-one knew how to cope. I think back then any of us would have given anything for you to be back, or just to be able to talk to you again. I know you understand why Roxy has a right to life over you, and I'm sorry, the only comfort I can offer you is that I am going to make sure she's safe. I swear I'll find a way._

_Roxy, if anything else happens, please tell me about it. Even if you just want to talk, I'm here for you, alright? _

_Please don't be angry about what I said about Fred, he'll explain._

_From,_

_Harry_

Roxy glanced around her, making sure that the rest of her dorm-mates were asleep before allowing herself to cry properly.

_Roxy, don't cry, please. This is a good thing. He's going to find a way to save you._

_No! _She screamed out in her head, _I don't want him to save me. I want him to save you._

_Roxy you know I can't stay. You know it's wrong._

"I don't want you to leave." She choked, out loud.

_Shh, no, it's alright. I'll be fine. Like Harry said, I'm dead and there's no changing that. If I did… win, then there's no way I'd be able to carry on. I'd be a murderer. I would be responsible for your death. I couldn't live knowing that._

She shook her head, "But I can't stand it if… if… I don't want to kill you either." She didn't even bother to keep her voice down, "Please, don't leave. You can't leave."

_Roxy, you know how this has to work. You have a right to life. I don't. If I die now, nothing will have changed. No-one will know._

"I'll know."

There was a long pause as I tried to take this in. I didn't understand what she wanted me to do. What could I do? I knew there was no way either of us could have a happy ending.

_Look Roxy, It'll be hard, I know, but you have Teddy and George and Ange and Freddie, and everyone else. You'll be fine. You'll get over me._

She kept on shaking her head, hugging her legs tight to her chest, still crying softly. I wished I could just put my arms around her and hold her tight. She needed human comfort.

"I don't-"

"Roxy, who are you talking to?"

It was Rose's voice, she sounded wide awake, and she had obviously been listening for a while. We looked over at her to see her sitting up in bed, watching Roxy with a concerned expression.

"N-nobody, Rose, I… I'm fine." She looked down at the bedsheets, she could still feel the tears wet on her cheeks, and, without even glancing back up at Rose, she buried her face in her knees and cried.

"Roxy…" Rose walked calmly over to Roxy's bed and put her arms around her, "Hey, it's alright. Just… let it all out." She said gently.

We heard mutters from the other side of the dormitory, it sounded like the others had woken up at the sound of Roxy's sobs.

"Shit, Rose, is she-"

"She's fine; she just needs to let it out. Go back to sleep, I'll take care of her."

I was eternally grateful to Rose for being so calm. If it had been Lily to wake up first she would have panicked and made Roxy feel even worse.

_Please Fred. Don't leave._

_You know I don't have a choice._

_Please. Promise me you won't leave._

Rose gently stroked her hair, letting Roxy press her face into her shoulder, not caring that her pyjamas were now completely soaked through with Roxy's tears.

_I… I'm sorry, Roxy._

She put her arms around Rose's neck and hugged her back.

"Thank-you, Rose." She whispered, not sobbing quite as hard anymore.

"Roxy, it's fine. You know I'm here for you any time you need me." Rose whispered back.

* * *

><p>The dirty looks Roxy got on her way down to the great hall for breakfast were almost unbearable. The Slytherins, in particular, seemed to take pleasure in taunting her.<p>

"Slapper!" Someone shoved her hard, and she fell. Someone caught her before she could hit the floor, and just from seeing his hands we could tell who it was immediately.

"Teddy, thank-you. Again." She mumbled as he placed her back on her feet. The number of times he seemed to save her these days.

"T-Teddy?" She asked confusedly. Without even saying a word he had practically ran off down the corridor, away in the direction of Flitwick's office.

_He's fine. He's still just upset about everything. Give him a few days._

_ Fuck. I hope so._

She continued down the corridor, and finally reached the great Hall, ignoring the jibes and laughs, which seemed to be increasing every day, walked over and sat down beside Lily, who was engrossed in her copy of _Witch Weekly_, and looked positively disgusted.

"Hey Lily," She sighed, unable to sound cheerful, "What's up?"

Lily didn't so much as look up from her magazine.

"Lily?" Roxy asked, concerned now, "Lily, what is it?"

Lily shook her head, and returned to reading, her mouth wide open in disgust.

Roxy tore the magazine out of her hands, ignoring Lily's protests, and looked at the page she had been reading. The heading read, '_CREEPER OR KEEPER? - Hogwarts potions teacher in centre of pregnancy scandal_.'

Roxy shook her head, "No. Lily, please tell me this is some kind of joke."

Lily shook her head, and Roxy closed her eyes for a second before she carried on reading.

_Theodore 'Teddy' Lupin, newly appointed potions master at Hogwarts in in the centre of a scandal involving pregnant 6th year student Roxanne Weasley, daughter of George Weasley (Weasley's Wizard Wheezes), and niece of Harry Potter, the so called 'Chosen one'._

_Witch Weekly has been given conclusive evidence that 'Professor' Lupin is, in fact, the Father of Roxanne's unborn child, who she wishes to call Remus, after its deceased Grandfather. Teddy has been quoted as saying that Roxanne "Means more to him than anything", and that he is "In love with her" and would "Never take advantage off her". Lupin, nearly ten years her senior, knows her through Harry, who happens to be his godfather. But the scandal goes deeper than that. Two years ago Teddy was engaged to Roxanne's cousin, Victoire Weasley, before she died under mysterious circumstances, whilst pregnant with his child. Is this not a coincidence? Now that Roxanne is pregnant, will she, too, die in a way shrouded in mystery? Another Weasley girl fallen victim to the Metamorphagus' macabre charms?_

Roxy stopped reading. The article went on for another three pages, but she couldn't take any more.

"Lily…" She muttered, horrified, "What do I do? I've ruined his life."

"Roxy!" Lily grabbed her by the shoulders and shook hard. "Stop it! Stop it now! You haven't ruined anyone's life; it's whoever wrote this stupid article-" She scanned the article, and found the name at the bottom, "There, Skeeter. She's who's to blame, not you."

My heart sank as she read out the name.

"Skeeter? Rita Skeeter?" I asked through Roxy's lips in a whisper.

Lily scanned the article and nodded, "Why? Who is she?"

"If she's got hold of Ro- _my_ story, then we're all dead."

The first owl just a few minutes later,

_Dear Roxanne,_

_I wish you to know that you have the full support of the entire wizarding community; no-one will rest until this monster has been brought to justice. We understand that at this time you are frightened of him, and are scared of being punished by everyone else for your actions, but we can assure you that Theodore Lupin will not touch you again, and that you have the support and backing of I, my family, and of every other wizarding family in the country while you try to deal with this tragedy. Personally, I have already written to the headmaster, your Uncle, your Father, and, of course, Lupin himself. And I shall continue to offer you my help and support throughout your ordeal._

_Yours Faithfully,_

_Rachel Corner_

"Roxy? What is it?" Lily asked, before taking the letter out of Roxy's hands.

"What?" Lily's mouth was wide, and she clutched the letter tightly, "She's doing what?"

A second owl flew in and landed in front of them, then a third, then a fourth.

People were looking over now, as more and more owls landed in front of Roxy, and she heard a Slytherin make a loud joke about them being love-notes from Teddy.

Lily looked appalled, and she nodded in agreement as Roxy stood up and fled the hall, covering her face.

It took her around five minutes to get back to the common room. Five horrible minutes spent ignoring the taunts coming from almost every student she passed on the way, and trying her best not to cry.

The common room went deadly silent as she entered, and she saw that students were gathered in groups and reading copies of Witch weekly. Some of them giggled as she passed, others threw sympathetic glances.

"Oof!" She exclaimed in shock as Fred hurtled across the room and threw his arms around her.

"Roxy I'm so sorry, everything's alright, it'll be ok, we'll deal with it, it's fine-" He carried on muttering disjointed comforts as Roxy attempted to pull away; people were staring and laughing.

"Fred I'm okay-"

"I don't believe you."

_You're not ok._

"Shut up Fred."

We both obliged, Fred loosening his hold on her and stepping backwards, away from her.

"Tell me what to do." He said quietly, obviously straining to sound calm.

Roxy brought her hand up and rubbed her eye, wiping away the tear before it had fully formed.

"I need you to just let me go." She whispered, her voice sounding horrible, "Try and contact Andromeda, tell her Teddy is-"

"James is owling her now," Fred cut her off, "And Lily and Albus are using the floo network to contact Ginny and Harry to find out what they're doing about all of this. I'm going to owl Mum and Dad in a minute. Now, are you going to be alright?"

"I'll be fine," Her voice broke on the last word, "Thank-you. But please just let me go."

She pulled away from him and practically ran upstairs to her dorm, conscious of his eyes following her as she went.

Roxy dropped face down onto her bed, burying her face in the sheets.

_Hey, it's alright, everything'll be fine, Harry will sort it out, and Ginny's probably at her work now, writing an article telling everyone how Rita's a stupid, lying-_

_Shut up._

_It's the Easter holidays in two weeks' time anyway, and you'll be able to speak to Teddy soon, and it'll all be-_

_Shut. Up._

I did what she said, and left her to her thoughts.

George would have read the article by now, so would Angelina, I wondered what they would be doing, how they would react. And Bill and Fleur, the stuff the article had said about Victoire, and would they believe Rita about her being pregnant? Or just dismiss it as another of her lies. Somehow I doubted Fleur wouldn't follow it up.

"It's all my fault, I've ruined it, I've ruined everything for everybody." Roxy whispered.

I didn't know what to say. It wasn't her fault, but how was I supposed to explain that to her?

_Roxy, this isn't your fault-_

_Yes, but-_

_No, Roxy, listen to me, this isn't your fault, and even if it is, try… try looking on the positive side of things._

_THE POSITIVE SIDE? THE POSITIVE SIDE TO WHAT EXACTLY? _She shrieked at me, _THE POSITIVE SIDE TO EVERYONE THINKING TEDDY'S A MURDERER? THE POSITIVE SIDE TO VICTOIRE BEING DEAD? THE POSITIVE SIDE TO ONE OF US DYING?_

_Roxy, calm down, just look, ok? You've found out about Teddy, haven't you? You'd probably never have known about how he feels without this. And the baby, don't tell me you don't want the baby, Roxy, we both know you'd die for it. And what about me? Without all of this you'd never have known about me, I'd still stuck, trapped inside your head, yelling for you to hear me even though I knew you never would._

_I wish you were._

She slammed back down the invisible barrier and closed her eyes, oblivious to me crying her name.

* * *

><p>"Roxy, will you pass the gravy?" Molly's voice was quiet, and you might even go as far as to say she sounded shy.<p>

Nodding, Roxy passed the steaming jug to her grandmother without meeting her eyes, well aware of the tension between them.

The whole family, apart from Harry, who was still at work, were gathered at the burrow, and it was nearing the end of the Easter holidays. Ginny had managed to publish an article in the daily prophet the same day the witch weekly article had been published, and had, with Roxy's permission, had told everyone what had really happened, minus me. Skeeter was in Azkaban, prosecuted by Hermione for being an unregistered animagus. And Roxy had started talking to me again the next day, and still didn't believe me when I told her it was alright.

"Are you all ready to go once we've finished eating?" Angelina asked from beside her, smiling nervously, referring to her scan, which was scheduled for later that afternoon.

"Yeah, I am. What time's Teddy getting here?"

Angelina looked slightly taken aback, "Teddy, honey? Why would Teddy be coming?"

"Well, he took me last time, and…"

Angelina shook her head, "No, I'll be taking you, and then afterwards we're going to go see an old… friend of ours." She glanced at Ron, who blushed slightly. Hermione and Ginny laughed. "Anyway," She turned back to Roxy, "You know how it is with Teddy."

Roxy scowled, "No I don't know how it is! If someone can explain to me why it is that I'm not allowed to see him then that would be-"

"Hi everyone," Harry cut her off, walking into the house wearing a huge grin, "Sorry I'm so late, I was caught up at work."

He took the empty seat next to Ginny, apparently oblivious to everything that had just gone on.

"Are you alright Ginny?" He glanced at her full plate, "Are you not eating?"

She didn't smile at him, and pushed away her plate, looking green, "I'm not hungry."

Harry looked concerned, but didn't dwell on it. "Alright then, so how's everyone else? Roxy? Are you doing ok? You're getting big."

Roxy smiled politely, glancing at the others sat around the table, "I'm good, I'm going for a scan this afternoon."

Since Harry hadn't been around for the first half of the meal, or much of the first half of the holidays for that matter, he hadn't noticed the tension that now hovered over the whole of the family. Mum still wasn't talking to Roxy; she hadn't gotten over what had happened at Dad's wake. Roxy would look up to see Her Grandmother staring wistfully at her, lost in thought. Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ron and Ginny seemed alright about it, although she had caught them giving her odd glances every now and then.

"Fred dear, what's that on your arm?" Mum asked.

Everybody turned to look at Freddie, who was wearing a short sleeved t-shirt and looking puzzled, his mouth open as he inspected his arms and looked at Mum with a blank expression, "Huh?" He asked.

Mum shook her head and looked at him, "Sorry Freddie, I meant- George, your arm, it's burned."

George smiled and pulled his sleeve down to cover the angry red scorch-mark, "Honestly woman," He laughed, winking at Roxy, "Call yourself my Mother?"

There was deadly silence for a second, broken by Albus laughing, and then rapidly closing his mouth as he saw Mum's face; she looked like she was going to cry.

"I'm going." I said quietly through Roxy's mouth, standing up and walking away from the table, out through the door and into the garden.

_Hey, what are you doing? Go back inside! Give me my body back! _Roxy yelled.

I just kept on walking, away towards the orchard.

_Fred! What's wrong? Tell me! Why did Gran act like that? Why did-?_

_No, please just leave me alone._

She stopped talking and sat back, watching, as I climbed up the small hill and dropped to my (or Roxy's, whichever you prefer) knees beside the oldest apple tree.

I lent my head against the rough bark and closed my eyes, tears dripping down my cheeks.

_This is all my fault._

_Fred don't be like that. What would I be doing without you?_

_I don't know, but you sure as hell wouldn't have got yourself into this mess._

_You know that's not-_

"No, Angelina, go back to the house, I can deal with this." Harry's voice was firm, and we could hear him walking towards us.

"She is _my_ Daughter, and I am perfectly capable of-"

"Angelina, you have to trust me, I know what's-"

There was a loud thud, and Roxy giggled silently; Angelina had just punched Harry in the face. I didn't envy him then, I had been on the receiving end of a punch from Angelina, and I can tell you she would have made a great boxer.

"Don't you dare," hissed Angelina, "Don't you dare imply you know what's best for her. You have _no idea-_"She paused for a second, "No idea what this family's been through. You're alright aren't you? You're happy to sit back and watch all this happen, just as long as it doesn't hurt you. But I'll tell you one thing; you wouldn't be so calm if it was Lily."

_This is wrong. All of it._ Roxy said quietly, _We've hurt everyone._

_Not we; I._

She didn't argue with me, and instead turned her attention back to Harry and Angie, who were still bickering.

"Please, I've had a chance to talk to her, I know how she feels, I know what's wrong."

"I'm her _Mother_. I'm supposed to be looking after her, making sure she's ok. That's all I want to do." Angelina's voice sounded desperate now.

"I know, Ange, I know, but please let me just calm her down. Why don't you go and find George? Make sure he's alright."

We heard her sigh and walk off down the hill, obviously still not happy about the situation.

I didn't look up as Harry approached, screwing my eyes tightly shut and turning my back towards him.

"Roxy?" He asked quietly, stopping a few paces away from us.

I didn't move, more tears trickling down my cheeks.

"Ok…" He paused, "Fred?"

Turned around so I was facing him and nodded, not looking up.

"Is Roxy alright? Is she… in there?"

I nodded again and he breathed a sigh of relief, sitting down on the grass beside me.

"It's all my fault." I mumbled, "Why couldn't I have just stayed dead, like everyone else?"

"Fred," He sighed, "It's not your fault, you know it's not your fault."

"It is though; I encouraged her to go into the shack. It doesn't matter that she couldn't hear me, I helped persuade her to do it, and now…"

I buried my head in my hands.

"Fred, it's-"

"Everyone would be happier if I was still dead, none of this would have ever happened."

Harry touched my shoulder gently, evidently he didn't know what to say, there was nothing he could say.

_Here Roxy, do what you like._

She took back control of her body and wiped the tear streaks from her face.

"Uncle Harry?" She asked quietly, looking up at him, "Is your face alright?"

He laughed quietly, and put his arm around her, "I'm fine, it's you we have to worry about."

She bit her lip and sighed, "Have you found out anything? About, you know…"

"I've spent every spare second I have searching through the ministry libraries. Ron thinks I've gone mad, he reckons I'm obsessed. I told him I was doing something for Luna, searching for evidence of the Crumple-horned Snorcack."

I snorted, and Roxy jumped and brought up her hands to cover her nose.

"Sorry," I muttered, mentally stepping backwards and letting Roxy back in.

"A crumple-horned what?" She asked, laughing.

Harry looked slightly taken aback, but smiled anyway, "I don't even know, some kind of horse?" He shrugged, and then looked serious again, "I've talked to three… survivors. All of them were in the same position as Fred is. And one committed suicide two days after we spoke."

Roxy looked down at the floor and swallowed.

"The search for your attackers-" He paused, "Your Dad doesn't want you to know all this, he thinks it'll upset you, but… you have a right to know what's going on. I know what it's like when people keep things from you to try to protect you." He ran a hand through his hair and looked at her in desperation, "We had them cornered, they were outnumbered, and… we were stupid, we didn't think they had wands, just presumed-" He broke off, "Three escaped, the other's dead… along with two Aurors."

Roxy put her face in her hands, "Shit." She muttered, then realised who she was speaking to and added, "Sorry Harry."

"It's alright. Just, are you ok? About everything?"

"I'm fine," She lied, looking downwards and trying to control her breathing, "Is Gran ok?"

"Molly's fine, she's just having a tough time adjusting to not having Arthur, and then with Fred and you on top of that..." He trailed off and glanced back in the direction of the house. "C'mon Roxy, your Mum's worried enough as it is."

He stood up and offered her his hand, helped her to her feet and smiled weakly.

"Harry, where's Teddy?" She asked quickly, before he could start off down the hill.

Harry stopped and looked back at her; obviously he had been hoping she wouldn't ask that.

"Teddy is… staying with Andromeda; he's not coping so well." He grimaced slightly, "I've tried to persuade George and Angelina to let you talk to him, but… let's say they didn't disregard the whole of Skeeter's article as lies."

Roxy buried her face in her hands. "But can't you explain? They know Teddy, how could they ever think-? Teddy couldn't hurt anyone, especially me or Victoire!"

Harry shook his head, "Roxy I've tried, but your parents are going to be protective of you, there's nothing any of us can do about that. They're just too worried to think straight at the minute, they'll be ok eventually."

Harry's sigh was enough to prove to Roxy that he definitely wasn't sure they were going to be ok, and she was engulfed in guilt.

_Look Roxy, getting angry won't help, just back to the house and go to your scan. We'll find a way to see him soon._

She saw what I was planning, and couldn't help grinning slightly.

"Roxy? Why are you smiling? Wha- what's Fred saying?" Harry looked half pleased she wasn't upset any more, and half suspicious.

"Nothing Harry, he was just trying to cheer me up." She said quickly, not exactly telling a lie.

Harry glanced at her sideways, still suspicious, "Alright, I believe you."

She smiled at him, and started off towards the burrow, still apprehensive of the conversation she was sure to have once she entered.

* * *

><p>"You know, Roxy, when you were younger, I dreamed about this." Angelina sighed, taking Roxy's hand.<p>

It was half-way through the scan, and the Doctor had stepped out for a moment to let them talk.

Roxy looked up from where we had been staring at the screen and shot her a quizzical glance, "Huh?" She asked, squeezing Angelina's hand and furrowing her brow.

"No, I mean, obviously I pictured it a little differently," She said, staring off into space, "In my imagination you were a lot older... and married… and we were with your husband… and you were happy and laughing, and I was going to have my first grandchild and-"

She abruptly broke off and turned away so that Roxy couldn't see her tears.

"Mum…" Roxy didn't know what to say, she squeezed her hand again and tried to give her a reassuring smile. "I am happy." She lied, "And you're still going to get your first grandchild."

"Yes, but it's not the same thing is it?" She asked absentmindedly, looking like she was trying hard to stay cheerful.

Roxy dropped her hand as if it was red hot, suddenly offensive.

"What do you mean it's not the same thing? Wherever it came from, it's still your grandchild. And I intent to raise him as that."

"Yes, but-" Angelina paused, realising she had said the wrong thing, "All I'm saying is that if you keep him, every day when you see it you'll have to remember-"

"Then for him I will cope with that. It's not about what's best for me, or how I feel, this is about him; and I'm not going to give him up, whatever you or Dad say." She clenched her hands into fists, trying to control her anger.

_Does she not get it?_ Roxy asked me angrily, _I love him; I'm not giving him up._

_Him?_ I asked sceptically.

_Well, yeah, he's a boy, obviously. Can you not tell?_

_I was getting a strong girl vibe actually._

My attempts to distract her worked, and some of her rage had subsided when she finally turned her attention back to Angelina.

To both of our surprise, Ange was smiling; she looked like she was going to laugh even.

"Roxy…" She sighed, putting a hand on the top of her head and beginning to stroke Roxy's hair, "Sometimes you're so much like me it's scary." Angelina paused and smiled again, "We won't make you give him up, Roxy, not now. Before- We didn't know, we thought you hated it."

"Hated him?" Roxy asked, "How could anyone hate him?" She looked towards the screen, "He's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life."

"I know," Angelina lent down to kiss Roxy's forehead quickly, "I know, honey."

"So… Who is it we're going to see?"

* * *

><p>Angelina had refused point blank to give her any hints as to who the person she was supposed to be meeting was, and although she had hoped it might be Teddy, they had apparated to an unfamiliar street in, judging by the accents of the people they had passed, Ireland.<p>

"Not we; you." She smiled, stopping walking, "This is me here." She gestured towards a small café on the other side of the street and waved at a sandy haired man sitting in the window. "You need to carry on up this road until you get to the green house; number 36." She smiled and crossed the street, turning only to give her a quick wave before entering the café and sitting down next to the man.

_Who the hell is that?_ Roxy asked, referring to the man with whom her Mother was now sitting and laughing.

I studied his face for a second, trying to remember where I recognised the face from before my mind offered up the name.

_Seamus. Seamus Finnegan- He was in Ron's year at Hogwarts, a Gryffindor. I didn't know Angelina knew him though._

Roxy shrugged and set off along the street, counting the house numbers as she went.

Number 36 was hidden from view behind a large hedge, and we missed it twice before I pointed it out. It was green. Very green, and covered in slightly garish yellow flowers.

_Eurgh,_ Roxy commented as we walked up to knock at the door.

_Hey, be polite. _I warned her.

It only took three or four seconds for the door to be answered, and when it was, I couldn't help gasping at the woman who stood before us.

She looked a lot older than I remembered, and her hair was flecked with grey. But that wasn't what made me gasp.

The entire left side of Lavender Brown's face was covered by a huge, jagged scar; beginning at the corner of her eye, curving inwards, and touching her lip, dragging it down at the edge.

She smiled, obviously well used to this reaction, and gestured for Roxy to come in.

_Who is she?_ Roxy asked, still gaping at her, mouth wide.

_Her name's Lavender Brown, she went to Hogwarts with Harry, Ron and Hermione. I-I didn't know what happened to her after the war, but I'm guessing… I'm guessing Greyback. During the battle._

_Fuck._

_I know._

"Would you like some Tea? Coffee?" Lavender asked, sitting down on a small, flowery sofa and pointing her wand absentmindedly at the kettle.

Roxy nodded, and hesitantly sat down beside her, unsure of how to act around her.

Lavender laughed, putting her hand on Roxy's shoulder, "Don't worry, there's no reason to be scared of me. I don't bite." She pursed her lips, "Well, not at the moment at least, full moon's not till Thursday."

Roxy laughed politely, trying to avoid looking at the scar.

"You know, I was worried when your Mum first told me what happened," Lavender said, more quietly, "I thought you might be, you know, like me." She pointed to her scar and laughed again. "It's alright to stare; you can even touch it if you want." She shrugged, "You get used to these things, there's no use worrying about it."

Roxy shook her head vigorously at the offer to touch the scar, still terrified.

_If you won't talk to her then at least let me._

Roxy swallowed.

_Be my guest._

"Does it… hurt?" I asked, knowing she would realise we weren't discussing the scar any more.

Lavender sighed, and smiled weakly, "I won't lie to you. I does hurt, a lot. It gets better over time, but you're so young…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "It's a lot better than it used to be; the wolfsbane potion, you just curl up and sleep for the night. Before you would have had to-" She broke off and shuddered slightly, "I didn't take the potion once," She confessed in a whisper, "I wanted to see what it was like, what _I_ was really like." Looking down at the floor she smiled slightly, "I told Seamus- my husband, and he said yes, he's- he's too good for me really, I don't deserve him. He locked me in the cellar and just sat there waiting outside the door until morning, I don't know what it must have been like for him, having to _listen_-" Breaking off, she shuddered again. "When I got back out I had this," She gestured to her scar, "It was horrible, but he stayed with me through everything. I'm so lucky to have him." Her worried face broke out in a smile, "I honestly don't know what I'd do without him. People like me and you, we're lucky to have people that care about us so much." She gestured to a copy of Witch weekly on the coffee table.

Seeing Roxy's worried expression she smiled kindly, "Don't worry, I've been on the receiving end of Rita Skeeter's quill." Her face went cold, and I had a feeling It wouldn't be good to ask her for any more details.

Lavender shook her head and took Roxy's hand.

"Teddy Lupin cares about you, you know. We're friends. I haven't seen him very recently, but the last few times I have, he didn't speak about anything but you."

A strange warm sensation spread through Roxy's body as she listened.

"Don't listen to anything Skeeter, or your parents, or anyone else says. If you love Teddy, then go after him."

A wide smile spread across Roxy's face and Lavender smiled back.

"Alright then," Lavender grinned, "Anyway, I'm here to answer any more questions you might have about… well, anything really, the transformation, pregnancy, just anything really." She shrugged and then smiled at Roxy.

"Well…" Roxy said, having finally managed to pluck up the courage to speak. "There are a few things I was wondering about…"

"Right well that's fantastic, just feel free to talk about anything."

* * *

><p>"Shit!"<p>

Roxy sat up straight in bed, gasping and looking around frantically.

_Shh, it's alright, just a nightmare, Roxy, just a nightmare._

She calmed down a little and glanced around the room more slowly, checking that George was still asleep in the armchair by the window. He was.

With a sigh, she stood up, realising she was still wearing her clothes from yesterday. She glanced back at George, making sure that he hadn't woken up at the creak of the floorboards. Picking up a pen and a scrap of paper, she scribbled down a small note for George in case he woke up before she came back.

_Dad,_

_Gone out. Don't worry about me, I'll be back soon, I promise._

_Roxy xx_

Checking her watch, she saw that it was 2am. Not exactly the time for a stroll, and if he did wake up, he would of course be worried.

_You worry too much._ Roxy chided, smiling as she pushed open the door.

_You shouldn't leave him here by himself; he'll have a heart attack if he finds you gone._

_I know. I love him just as much as you do, remember?_

I rolled my (Roxy's) eyes, and sighed quietly.

_Stop doing that!_

_Doing what?_

_Just taking over random parts of my body, it makes me dizzy._

_Sorry._

She closed her door behind her and descended the stairs quietly, reaching the hallway and pulling on her shoes quickly.

_Roxy, how are you even going to get there? You can't use the floo network without George or Angelina hearing, and you don't know how to apparate._

_I don't know how to apparate… but you do. _She said with a coy smile.

_No, absolutely not. For one thing, I haven't apparated in years, and for another, it's different with a different body. You haven't apparated by yourself before, it's too risky._

_You honestly think I give a damn about the risks? Fred I _need_ to see him._

_Roxy getting hurt again won't solve anything. You'll just make everything worse._

_I don't care. Now do it or I'll… I'll try and bury myself._

_You wouldn't!_

I tested her, she wasn't lying.

_Oh, Roxy I- Alright._

She smiled slightly, and then waited for me.

Glancing around nervously, I rubbed my (her?) hands together and tried to remember everything I could about how this worked.

"Ok… Ok, I can do this." I muttered, "It's like riding a broom, right? You never forget."

I closed my eyes and span around on the spot, preparing for the pain of being splinched.

We heard a nearby door creak open, and then footsteps running towards us. "Roxy, what the hell are you-?" The person grabbed us, mid-spin, and pinned Roxy's arms to her side, holding her still.

Roxy began to struggle, to try and get away, but she couldn't. "Let me go, let me-!"

-_Two people grabbed her and held her arms to her side while she struggled, leering over her and laughing at her cries. They smelt like Alcohol and sweat, and she flinched away as one tried to press his lips against her face.-_

"Fuck. I'll do anything, I swear, just please let me-"

_-She aimed a mismatched punch at one, crying out as he easily caught her fist and twisted it to the side, causing a sharp pain all the way up her arm. She pulled away, trying to run, but tripped, landing on the floor and cutting her arm. Still she carried on trying to get away, crawling across the floor, oblivious to the broken glass that sliced the palms of her hands.-_

"No! Please-"

_-One aimed a swift kick to her side, while another grabbed her around the middle and dragged her over into a corner-_

"Please, you can't, not again, I don't want-"

"Roxy! Roxy! Calm down, it's ok, it's me, it's Freddie. Everything's alright. I'm not going to hurt you. Shh."

Roxy stayed where she was, curled up against the wall, her tear stained face hidden by her hands. "Oh F-Freddie." She choked, still half hyperventilating from the flashback.

Fred sat down beside her, wrapping his arms around her and letting her cry into his chest. "It's ok, you're safe now. No-one's going to hurt you."

"I'm sorry Freddie I was just so-" She couldn't finish the sentence, and instead just cried softly, trying to control herself.

"Shh, no, it's ok. You don't have to be sorry, you've done nothing wrong. It's not your fault. I'm here, yeah."

Roxy nodded slowly, her head still buried in his chest.

I stayed quiet; she didn't need me to complicate things or make her feel any worse. And I was still a wreck from the flashback as well. It had hit me exactly the same as it had her, and I was fighting to stop absolute panic from taking over.

A few minutes passed, and both me and Roxy managed to calm down a little. When Roxy's sobs finally subsided, Fred spoke again.

"Roxy I need you to promise me you'll never do that again." He muttered quietly, looking at her seriously.

"Fred, I can't exactly control-"

"No, not _that_," Fred said quickly, trying to stop her from getting angry. "Look, I know you want to see him, but I need you to promise you won't ever try to apparate to see Teddy again."

She didn't reply.

He sighed exasperatedly, and then took her hand, pulling her to her feet. "Alright, c'mon Roxy. You ready?"

"…For what?"

"I'm not letting you try to apparate by yourself, you don't know how, and you'll end up getting hurt. So I'm taking you."

Roxy thought she understood, but didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Taking me where?"

"Disneyland. Where do you think? To see Teddy of course."

He smiled weakly at her, obviously trying to put on a happy façade for her.

"You alright?" He asked quickly, waiting for an answer and then sighing when he didn't get one. "Ok, Roxy. Hold your breath."

He turned on the spot.

* * *

><p><strong>((Edited as of 807/2012))**

**By the way, I should point out, just in case it confuses anyone. When Fred says 'Mum', he's referring to his Mother, Molly, not Roxy's Mum. He calls people by what he knew them as, not how Roxy knows them. I was just reading back through it and I realised it could sound a little confusing at times. So yeah. I really hope I don't sound patronising or anything.  
>Oh, also, I've now finished editing le past chapters of le story, so once I've finished uploading them then I will be able to begin writing the next chapter and post it soon :D<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Roxy glanced at her watch as they walked towards the house. It was 2am, and of course Teddy would be asleep. And Andromeda would be angry, of course. Freddie squeezed her hand, giving her a reassuring smile.

He knocked on the door quietly, stepping backwards to stand next to Roxy and wait. It seemed like hours before finally the door opened a crack and somebody peered out through it.

Freddie stepped forwards and took a deep breath, "Andromeda," He said, sounding a lot more sure of himself than Roxy felt, "I'm sorry to disturb you so early, but Roxy and me-"

"Roxy!" Andromeda gasped, pulling open the door, "She's here?"

Roxy barely had time to open her mouth before Andromeda had run outside and thrown her arms around her.

"Thank-you, thank-you! I thought you weren't going to come, he needs you so much."

Roxy nodded, a few tears welling up in her eyes as she followed Andromeda into the house and up the stairs.

Freddie hung back, calling after us and saying that he would wait downstairs.

As we neared Teddy's room, Roxy grew nervous, she didn't know what to expect; if Andromeda was this anxious, then it had to be bad. Andromeda was one of the calmest people we knew.

_Fred… what if it's really bad? What if I can't help him?_

I didn't answer for a moment, thinking over her question.

_Don't worry, _I said eventually, _I'm here, I'll help._

She swallowed, and I tried to give her some kind of mental hug, hoping it might help her even if it was just in some small way.

Andromeda had stopped the door at the end of the corridor, and was patiently waiting. When Roxy reached her, she pushed it open and let Roxy step inside, closing it behind us.

Roxy couldn't help but worry about Andromeda; she seemed to be so on edge, and was rushing everywhere, hurrying Roxy into Teddy's bedroom without a moment's thought, as if she had been planning exactly what to do when Roxy arrived, and had already known she was coming.

But she didn't have much time to ponder than once she had entered the room.

It was incredibly hot and stuffy, and almost instinctively, she found herself making her way towards the window, barely noticing that there were no curtains, and pulling at the latch.

It was bolted shut.

Turning away, she glanced around the room. The bed was empty, and there was no sign of him anywhere else. Slowly, she stepped forwards into the centre of the room, and glanced around, shivering despite the heat.

_Fred, I'm scared._

_Me too._

Her eyes fell on a small figure, hunched over into a ball in the corner. Surely it couldn't be-

"Te-Teddy?" She asked, stumbling forwards, "Is that you? Jesus Christ."

She fell to her knees next to him and clutched at his arm desperately. "Teddy! It's me, Roxy, I'm here."

As if jolted into consciousness by the sound of her name he looked up instantly, his hands wrapping around her wrists.

He looked awful; eyes unfocused and blurry from crying, and his chin covered in stubble. His hair was completely grey now, and his eyes were a hard shade of black that Roxy had never seen before.

"Teddy," She asked bravely, looking at him, "I need you to speak to me, its ok. I'm here now, but I need you to tell me what's wrong."

He let out a light moan at her words and reached one of his hands forwards to cup her face. "Roxy," He sighed.

"Yeah, Teddy, it's me. And I'm not going anywhere, so please talk to me."

He shook his head and leaned forwards to press his forehead against hers, "They sent people you know," He whispered, "Healers, Psychiatrists, anyone they could find. They thought there was something wrong with me, they wanted to lock me up."

Roxy's eyes filled up with tears at seeing him sounding so broken. "No-one's going to lock you up, Teddy, you're safe."

"They were going to, Roxy; they were all ready to take me away." He began to cry silently, tears pouring down his cheeks. "If Harry hadn't turned up, if he hadn't come to save me…"

There were a few moments of silence, and Roxy squeezed his hand gently, reassuring him.

_Fred, I can't do this._

_Yes, you can, you're doing fine._

"They bolted my window up, took away my curtains and belt and anything else I might use to… you know." He gently put an arm around her and pulled her in next to him, "They're stupid though; how could I ever? Not while you're still here. Not when I have you."

Roxy nodded slowly, "Don't worry, Teddy, I'm here. I swear I'm not going anywhere. I swear. I swear, I swear, I swear."

He smiled a little, and closed his eyes gently, "Please keep talking," He murmured, "I love listening to your voice."

"Course Teddy," She said quietly, "What should I talk about?"

Teddy's smile grew wider, "Anything… school, what you did for Easter, how your brother is, anything." He sighed, "Please just keep talking."

"Well…" She said quietly, "I think mostly I've been worrying about you. No-body would let me come and visit you, and I was so scared. But first Uncle Harry promised he'd bring me, and then when we tried to sneak out Freddie came and helped us."

I noticed Teddy wince when she talked about herself in the plural, including me in the sentence as well. Roxy noticed it too, and stopped, taking a breath before continuing on. "Dad seems to be coping better than he was. Oh, and I'm certain that the baby's a boy."

Teddy smiled a little at that, and she curled into him, trying to comfort him just through touch.

"I met Lavender Brown. She was nice, she taught me loads of stuff, she told me to say hello to you for her." Roxy tilted her head sideways so that she could get a better view of Teddy's face, and try to figure out what he was thinking. "Teddy…" She paused, "Are you ok?"

Teddy hugged her, "Course, Roxy, why wouldn't I be."

The amount that he had changed in just a few minutes was shocking; he sounded calm, and almost happy.

"Teddy, the healers, what did they say to you?" She asked suddenly, needing to know more.

Teddy frowned, "They didn't tell me much at all; they just asked me lots of questions. I overheard them though, when they were talking to Gran. They said I had some kind of anxiety disorder; that I was in constant fear of being left alone. They told her to get you, and make me spend time with you, and of course she tried. But George is, I'm afraid, rather overprotective." He laughed, "He came round here and told me not to come anywhere near you. He was so angry."

Roxy's breath caught in her throat. "He came here? He shouted at you?" She was absolutely horror struck. How could George do that to him, to anyone?

"Teddy, I'm not going anywhere anymore." She muttered through gritted teeth. "I'm not going to let him keep me away from you. I promise that if it's what you need, I'll be here, just me and you."

Teddy shook his head, "It's not though, is it?_ He's_ still here. He's always here."

Roxy didn't say anything, so I decided I needed to speak up.

"Listen, Teddy, I know you don't like me, but you should know that if I had any choice whatsoever I would give up my life for hers in a heartbeat." I said loudly, "I hate this situation so, so much more than you ever could, so stop acting so bloody pitiful."

Teddy immediately flinched away, staring at her in horror and backing away. Apparently that hadn't been the thing to do to calm him down.

"No, Teddy, shh!" Roxy comforted, inwardly glaring at me, and reached forwards to wrap her arms around Teddy. "Ignore him, please Teddy. Look at me. I'm here. Don't cry. Please."

In response Teddy gripped her fingers tightly, screwing his eyes shut and tilting his head backwards to rest it against the wall, a look of absolute pain on his face.

Roxy shook her head, leaning into his shoulder. "Teddy, you know what Uncle Harry's doing. He's going to find a way to help me; to save me. And so is Fred. He doesn't want me to die! He's trying! He really is! Oh Teddy." She sighed.

Teddy didn't say anything for a minute, just maintaining the same pained expression. Then his eyes opened, and he lent towards Roxy, putting a hand to her cheek and whispering her name. "It's ok, Roxy. I know."

He kissed her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly. "It's ok." He repeated, "I love you."

Roxy nearly burst with emotion.

_He's ok! _She squealed, _I've fixed him!_

She was almost euphoric, partly from the sheer relief that Teddy seemed to be ok, partly from the kiss, and partly from him saying he loved her.

_Oh Fred, it's going to be ok now. Teddy's going to help us and he and Harry'll find a way, together they will. They'll save both of us!_

A sharp pain suddenly ripped through my body. It felt like I was being sliced all over with a razor sharp knife. Roxy's vision went blurry, but I got the sense that she was completely oblivious to what was going on. She hadn't noticed yet. She couldn't hear me screaming.

There was more pain, and, just for a second, it felt like I was floating on a bubble of air. Then everything went black.

* * *

><p>I woke up suddenly. The same sort of way you might wake if someone threw a bucket of water over you whilst you were sleeping.<p>

My limbs jerked forwards clumsily, and I gasped for air, coughing and spluttering.

_FRED! FRED? FRED YOU'RE HERE, YOU'RE HERE YOU'RE-! FRED!_

The cries of my name made me look up, and I thought I saw Harry sat in front of me, although it wasn't him that had spoken.

"HARRY HE'S HERE! HE'S HERE! HE'S BACK!"

My mouth moved of its own accord, and suddenly I remembered who I was, where I was. My vision covered with black spots, obscuring Harry's concerned face. He reached out and took hold of one of Roxy's arms.

"Roxy?" I asked out loud, "Roxy what's-? I can't see. Roxy, where are you?"

_Shit, Fred calm down, it's ok. It's ok._

I tried to breathe slowly and be calm, handing control back over to her and feeling her blink and rub her eyes.

_What do you mean you can't see? My eyes are working fine. Oh Fred, you're here._

But all I could see in every direction was blackness, and I didn't have time to worry about what she meant by that.

_No, Roxy, I mean I can't see. I can't see anything. Is Harry there? Was that him before? Tell him I can't see! Tell him!_

Roxy quickly explained to Harry what was going on, and there was a few moments of silence, and then Roxy furrowed her brow.

"What? Why are you smiling, what's-?"

"Roxy, I think this means that for the moment, you're… winning. If Fred can't see anything then that means he hasn't been strong enough to regain control of all of your senses, I bet if he tried- Fred, try and say something, out loud, now."

I tried. But it wouldn't work. It was like the when she put down the wall, and I couldn't hear her. It made my head hurt to try.

"Ow!" Roxy exclaimed, clutching at her head. "That hurts! Stop it!"

I stopped immediately; I wasn't going to let anything hurt her.

"Good." Harry muttered, "That's good, I think."

Roxy frowned, and looked over somewhere beside her. I guessed she was looking at Harry.

_Where are we anyway?_

She paused, and looked downwards.

_We're at the Potters. You've been gone for three weeks. I-I thought you were dead._

A few tears spilled over her cheeks, and I felt Harry put his hand on her shoulder.

_We were eating dinner, and I sort of… flipped out. I screamed at Mum and Dad and threw my dinner plate across the room._

I didn't reply for a second.

_Nice. What happened then?_

_Harry took me out to talk to me. We were talking and then you… got back. _There was a pause, and I could feel her fighting with herself not co cry harder. _Things kind of went mad after you left. We were with Teddy, do you remember? And then you were just gone. Teddy realised what had happened straight away and owled Harry._

_Where's Teddy now? Is he ok? Is George still not letting you-?_

_Teddy's downstairs, he came to our house and talked to Dad. At first Dad was against him, but eventually he saw sense._

If I had had a body, I would have breathed a sigh of relief. Everything looked ok. Roxy was going to win, and Teddy was ok, and she was going to have her baby.

_This is great Roxy, don't you see, everything's going to turn out fine._

_Yeah, but I don't want to-_

"Roxy, are you both okay?"

Harry's voice cut her off, and she looked up in surprise. I couldn't see him, but from Roxy's reaction I guessed he must have looked worried.

"Yeah Harry," She nodded, "We're ok. I was just… catching him up."

There was a pause, in which I'm pretty sure Harry was nodding, and then Roxy continued.

"He doesn't know where he was. But I don't think he was dead. Something's changed though; I can sort of… read him." She frowned, concentrating hard.

"Roxy?"

"It's like… memories. I can get at them. That's new, that's…"

I couldn't see anything; I had no idea what she was doing.

_Roxy?_ I asked, confused.

She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "Memories," She whispered, "I've never been able to see anything like this before, that's-"

"What?" Harry asked, "You can see his memories? That hasn't happened before, not to anyone I've spoken to."

She shook her head, and I tried to see what she was thinking.

"I can see everything. It's like… That's weird that is." She says, her face breaking into an amazed smile. "Hey, Harry, you-you fought a Dragon? And-" She snorted loudly, "Nice dress robes, Uncle Ron."

Harry laughed too, but I could hear the concern in his voice. "Roxy, tell me what's going on. Properly." He said.

Roxy shook her head, "It's like I can see into his mind, but not like before, where I could just see what he's thinking now; it's everything he's ever thought."

Harry paused for a second. "But surely that's just you looking into what he's thinking right now."

"No." She said, "It's not. It's separate. Fred has nothing to do with it… Do you?"

_No, I've got no idea what's going on. What are you doing Roxy?_

"I don't know, but it's brilliant."

"Roxy, if you can see Freddie's memories now, then what if- What if you still can once he's gone?" Harry asks slowly, "If you can see stuff that Freddie isn't showing you, then maybe your souls have become so inter-joined that you get to keep his memories. That way, he wouldn't really be gone, even once he was."

_He's right! See, Roxy, now when I go, you won't have to be sad because I'll be… still here, sort of._

Tears welled up in Roxy's eyes. "I still don't want him to go, Harry. He's- I can't live without him."

"Hey, Roxy, it's ok." Harry hugged her, "I know it's hard, but the rest of us learned to live without Fred, and we can help you. Before he died, Fred was one of the best people I knew. He and your Dad were- well, they were geniuses. When he went, it was horrible; George didn't speak for months; it was like we had lost him too. Molly was just distraught, and no-one else knew where to put themselves. A light went out in the world that day."

I wasn't sure what to think. I didn't know whether he was saying this for my benefit or Roxy's. I knew it wasn't making either of us feel any better though.

"When I found out he was still here I didn't know what to do. At first I was happy, I thought that maybe he might be able to talk to George, give him closure. Make everyone feel better. But then I thought about the resurrection stone." He sighed, "Fred isn't supposed to be here, Roxy. He's meant to be dead. And I know it must be torture for him trapped in there. Especially before he could talk to you, I can only imagine how frustrated he was. If you want either of you to be happy, then you have to let him go. He's trapped like a rat, and it's got to be even worse knowing that his only chance of escape is to kill you, so please, for him, don't be upset. You'll only make things worse for him."

She nodded, and then I heard the door creak open. Unable to see who it was, I could only judge by Roxy's reaction that it wasn't good news.

"Harry… What-? Tell me I heard wrong. Fred's not- He can't be- He's dead. That's-"

Some of my vision seems to return to me, as tears streak down Roxy's cheeks and she looks up, desperately trying to think of something that she can say to comfort her scared, confused, grieving Uncle Ron.

* * *

><p><strong>((Edited as of 0807/2012))**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Harry swore loudly, something I'd never heard him do before. I could hear him stand up and walk over to where I guessed that Ron was.

I wanted to go over there and put my arms around Ron, tell him that everything was alright. But of course, trapped and blind, there was no chance of that.

Roxy was curling down inside herself, giving me the controls as she tried to numb her mind against everything and everyone. And as she buried herself, my vision returned completely.

Ron was stood in the doorway, and Harry was talking to him in an undertone, trying to get him to just drop it all and leave.

Of course Ron wouldn't. Nor would I, if our roles were reversed.

"Harry wait." I said quietly as he tried to physically push Ron out through the door. "He… he should know. I want him to know."

It took only a second for him to realise that it was me and not Roxy who was speaking, I held his gaze for a few seconds before he nodded and brought Ron over to the bed where Roxy was sat.

Ron sat down hesitantly next to us, and flinched away when I reached over to put a hand on his shoulder.

Harry stayed standing, watching us.

It took a few seconds of silence for me to finally speak. And even then it was only to prompt Harry to speak up.

"Harry," I muttered quietly, "Just tell him everything; there's no point any more. He can take it."

He frowned, and pushed his glasses up on his nose before looking down at Ron.

"Your brother, Fred, has been trapped inside Roxy's mind for all of her life. She couldn't see him, and she couldn't hear him, all he could do was watch us all. But after what happened in the shack, he started to talk. She was scared of him at first, but then things got better, they became… friends." Harry paused to take in Ron's expression. He appeared to be thoughtful, but I could see how the corners of his mouth kept twitching downwards. He didn't believe Harry. "They did some research, they found this book." He quickly ducked out of the room and returned with the book that Professor Thomas had given me and Roxy. It looked a lot more used now, and you could tell by how the spine was all broken that he had been reading it over and over again. "Here," He handed it over to Ron. "Chapter 27."

Ron read the page a lot more slowly than Teddy or Harry had done, his mouth moving along with the words. As he finished I put my arm around him; it had to be tough. First he lost me, and then, just in the last five minutes he got me back, and now he's going to lose me again. It's too much for one person to be able to bear.

He looked up at Harry and shook his head. "No." He muttered, "It's wrong. My brother is dead and there's nothing that can bring him back. Nothing."

Harry groaned, walking over and sitting on Ron's other side. "Ron look at her. Look at her now; that's not Roxy looking back."

He glanced up at me, and then straight back down. How could I have been stupid enough to make Harry tell him? He couldn't deal with it.

"Ron," I said slowly, looking at him seriously, "I'm sorry. You think I wanted this to happen? Of course I didn't. It's not my fault. But please, don't be angry, that won't help Roxy at all."

Ron's eyes closed for a few seconds, and he exhaled deeply. One small tear trickled down his cheek before he opened them and looked back up at me.

"Fred?" He gasped, reaching his hand out to touch Roxy's cheek. "It's true isn't it? You're here."

I nodded, and he sat back, breathing out deeply.

"What about Roxy? She's alright isn't she? She's… there."

I nearly cursed out loud. How could I have forgotten about Roxy? I quickly searched my mind, checking that she was still there and sighing with relief when I found her.

_Roxy talk to him._

_No._

_Please. He needs you._

_No._

_Roxy._

_No._

I handed her back the controls anyway, and she took them reluctantly, lifting her head to look back at Ron.

"Uncle Ron?" She asked, tears in her eyes.

He smiled at her weakly and brushed away a tear. "Yeah, Roxy."

She frowned down at the floor. "He says he's sorry."

Ron peered into her eyes, looking worried. "Sorry?" He asked, "Sorry for what? Fred, you don't have to be sorry, you haven't done anything, what-?"

Roxy interrupted him, laughing a little. "No, not that. He says… he says he's sorry about your Teddy Bear. He wishes he could go back and undo it." She looked back up at him and shrugged. "That's all. I don't really know what it means, it's just…"

Roxy hadn't searched through my memories enough yet to know about what sparked her Uncle's arachnophobia. When he was five I turned his favourite Teddy into a gigantic Tarantula. He hadn't been able to stand spiders ever since.

"Oh Roxy," Ron sighed, putting his arms around her and giving her a hug. "Tell him thank-you."

"Tell him yourself."

She handed me back over the controls and I was left staring at Ron, unable to speak.

"Ron…" I muttered, looking at him with fresh tears in my eyes, "I am sorry. I thought it was funny but it wasn't, I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

"Oh Fred don't be stupid!" He exclaimed, "No. You don't have to be sorry. Not now, not ever." He paused and hugged me again, "There's… so much stuff I've wanted to tell you. Wait." He muttered, looking down, "No, there's no time for a heart to heart. We have to- we have to-"

He looked in absolute despair. Ron and I were a lot closer than I was to Harry, and I could see that now Ron had me back, he wasn't going to be as quick as Harry to give me up again.

"We have to tell Hermione!" He yelled, punching the air in triumph. "Harry she's ten times smarter than us; she'll know what to do, she'll figure something out!"

Harry shook his head. "No." He said bluntly, "No Hermione, and no Ginny. You know what they were like after Fred. I'm not going to make them relive that."

Ron nodded reluctantly and sat back, one arm still around me. "Yeah, we can't do that to them." He agreed, "But we have to do something."

Harry agreed, and explained to Ron everything that he had been trying to do; searching through the ministry libraries, talking to people that had gone through this is the past, anything to try and figure out how to help us.

"Ron, I know this is hard, and you might not agree with this right now, but if it does get to a point where we can choose, it has to be Roxy." Harry said, looking seriously at Ron, "You know that, right?"

Ron went into a panic, "What! No! No! You're not getting rid of him again, Harry he's Fred! You can't!"

His face was a mask of panic and emotion, and he clung onto me desperately, a few more tears springing up on his cheeks. "He's my _brother_, Harry."

"Yes." Harry says clearly, his resolve not dissipating for an instant. "And she is a frightened, scarred sixteen year old girl, who has been through far too much already and needs you to help to look after her now."

Ron backed up and, after pausing, nodded his agreement once.

"Thank-you, Ron." I said quietly, squeezing his arm. "You know this is what I want too."

He nodded again, and I could he wasn't happy about it. I supposed that it was just something he was going to have to learn to deal with. If he had managed to deal with my death before, he still could now, as much as it hurt me to have to think like that.

A knock at the door stated that it was time for me to give control back to Roxy. I did so, just as Ginny stuck her head out from behind it, George stood behind her and holding her shoulders.

"Harry," She said quietly, and it was only then that I noticed the tears in her voice and the fact that her eyes were red. She had been crying.

"Ginny!" Harry jumped to his feet and crossed the room quickly, putting his arms around her, "What's wrong? What's happened?"

She pushed him away and a few more tears rolled from her eyes, "I need to talk to you."

It seemed like everybody was crying today. Out of the corner of her eye Roxy watched Ron wipe his face before Ginny or George could see that he had been crying too.

"Sure Ginny, of course, you can talk to me about anything." He said desperately.

"Roxy." George said sharply, "Downstairs."

She stood up and followed him from the room, Ron behind her.

"Dad," She asked, following him down the stairs, "Dad what's going on? Why is Ginny so upset, what's happening?"

George frowned as he walked, "That's between Harry and Ginny. Just leave it Rox."

"No, Dad." She said forcefully, grabbing onto his arm and spinning him around to face her. "You tell me what's going on. Now."

Ron stopped behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "George, tell us what's happening."

George made a desperate strangled noise in his throat. "I'm sorry. Ron I'll explain later, but no Roxy, this isn't for you to know."

"Dad tell me now." She growled, glaring at him.

"Roxy!" He sighed, looking pained, "It's not for your ears, I'm sorry."

Roxy folded her arms across her chest and stood her ground, "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me exactly what's happening."

George sighed and regarded her seriously, "Roxy I'm going to tell you this only because you've been through enough to know that these things are serious. You're closer to Harry than anyone besides Ron or Ginny; Yes Roxy, don't think I haven't noticed how much time you two spent together." He glanced up at Ron and frowned, "Lately Harry's been coming home late from work. He's told Ginny that it's all to do with you, Roxy, and your case, and she just happened to mention to Hermione about it." He hesitated, "Hermione said that Ron hadn't been having any late nights at all, and didn't know anything about Harry."

Roxy and Ron exchanged a horrified glance, realising what conclusions Ginny had jumped to.

"No!" Ron cried, shocked, "No! They've got it all wrong, you can't let them!"

He turned around and hurtled back along the hallway towards the room where Harry and Ginny remained. But it was too late. He got to the door just as Ginny rushed out of it, weeping.

"No, Ginny," Ron moaned as she pushed past him, "You've got it wrong, he hasn't, he wouldn't."

Ginny turned and looked back up at him for a second, "Ron I've already heard enough lies today. I don't need any more."

Then she turned and carried on past Roxy, stopping in front of George and taking hold of his arm. "George I'm going to need a place to stay for a few days. Is that ok?"

He nodded once and gave her a quick embrace before watching her off down the hallway.

Roxy didn't pause to watch what George did after that though. She was too busy pushing past Ron and into the room.

Harry was sat still on the bed, his head in his hands. "No." He mumbled, shaking his head, "No, it can't… no."

Roxy dropped down beside him and wrapped her arms around him. "Oh no, Harry." She breathed, "I'm so, so sorry. I'm so sorry."

Ron was perched in the doorway, looking torn between wanting to go after Ginny and wanting to comfort Harry."

"Go, Ron." Roxy murmured, "I can deal with this. Go."

He hesitated only for a moment before running off after his sister, calling her name.

_Shit. This is all my fault. _I quailed, _Why, Roxy? Why couldn't I have just died when I was supposed to?_

_Fred shut up and stop acting so bloody pitiful! This is not your fault, and it's not going to help Harry or Ginny, so shut it._

I obliged, letting her carry on comforting Harry, explaining to him how everything was going to be fine. Ron would talk to Ginny; they'd get it sorted out.

"But no." Harry shook his head, "It won't help. Nothing can help us now."

"Harry!" She cried, "Stop it! You're going to get Ginny back, and you're going to start by telling me exactly what you told her."

He winced, flinching away from Roxy and shaking his head again. "I'm sorry, Roxy, but you didn't see her after he died. She's hurting now, but this is better, anything is better than what it was like back then."

"H-Harry," Roxy stammered, "What are you saying? You didn't tell her that you- you _have_, did you?"

He looks at us angrily, "What choice did I have? I couldn't tell her about you. I tried to lie, I tried to make something up, but she didn't buy it, she just kept crying and I _couldn't_."

Oh no. Oh no. I had ruined their marriage. Harry and Ginny were so in love, anyone could see that, and now it was all over because of me. What had I done?

"Oh Harry," Her voice was coming in gasps, unable to believe that any of this was really happening. "No, you're wrong. We'll think of something."

He shook his head sadly, "There's no point. Nothing I do can take back what I've told her."

"No." Roxy said with vigour, "I'm not going to let this happen. Ginny is staying with us for a few days, I'll talk to her. I'll tell her the truth."

"No!" Harry cried, "No! I said no! I'm not doing that to her."

I tried to break through to talk to him, but Roxy forced me back down, not believing that anything I can say could really make things better.

"Roxy!" We heard George call from outside the door, "Roxy we're leaving, come on."

She stood up and put a hand on Harry's shoulder, "I'm not going to let this happen. I'm going to talk to her; I'm going to put all of this right."

He didn't look up again, and Roxy was left stood still until George called for her another time.

Hovering in the doorway for a second, she watched him and waited until he looked back up at her.

"I promise, Harry."

* * *

><p>"Roxy what were you thinking?" George bellowed, glaring at her, "I told you to stay away from her! Didn't I tell you?"<p>

Roxy glowered down at the floor, not daring to look him in the eye. She knew exactly what she had done and what she had been thinking, and she didn't regret it one bit.

_Come on Roxy, at least try and act a little sorry. If he grounds us you won't be able to see Teddy again._

_I go back to school in three days anyway, and he's teaching again._

_Alright then; if he grounds you, then you won't be able to go and talk to Harry any more._

She grumbled a little, but looked up at her Father, "I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't mean for it to go like that. I wanted to explain."

"Explain what, Roxy?" He asked, throwing his arms up in despair. "You keep telling us that Harry lied but I none of us can understand why he would!"

Roxy narrowly managed to stop herself from punching him.

"To protect me!" She cried, "To protect Ginny! He's trying to help her but no-body will listen to him!"

"Protect you from what?" He exclaimed in exasperation, "Please Roxy, I'm your Dad, tell me what the matter is." He lent forwards and gave her a quick hug, "Roxy there's nothing that you can't talk to me about."

She shook her head, "No, Dad. I'm sorry."

Sighing, he stood back and regarded her sadly, "I wish you'd trust me, Rox. I love you; I'd do anything to protect you."

His eyes darted down to her stomach quickly; it was getting bigger.

Running a hand across it, Roxy tried to supress her guilt. "Of course I trust you, Dad." She swallowed, her mouth dry, "I just don't want you to get hurt."

He took a step forwards and took her up in his arms again, "Damn you, Rox." He chuckled, "You got your Grandma's heart."

She couldn't help but smile at that, hugging him back and burying her face in his chest.

"So I take it I'm not going to hear a thing then?" He sighed, glancing down at her.

She shook her head.

"Alright, but I am here. When you need me, I'm here."

"Thanks Dad."

* * *

><p>Roxy practically dragged Rose along the corridor towards their potions classroom. "Come on, Rose. Hurry up!"<p>

"Alright! Jesus, Roxy, what's the rush?" She asked, rolling her eyes in an exasperated fashion.

"We're already late, and _Teddy_." Roxy grinned.

"Professor Lupin," Rose corrected, "Will not be giving you any detentions. If only to stop any more rumours, but also because he's probably figured out that punishing you won't gain him any points in the bedroom area."

"Rose!" Roxy shrieked, giggling, "Keep your voice down, that's not- I mean- Shut it Rose." She was blushed bright Red, and blushed even darker as they turned into the classroom and came face to face with Teddy, his hair the brilliant pink that she remembered so well from that day at the beach.

"So nice of you two to finally join us," He rolled his eyes, "Now please go to your seats and open up you books to page 97. Molly was just explaining to us all the properties of the bicorn horn in love potions."

Roxy and Rose walked to their seats on the opposite sides of the classroom.

_See. _Rose mouthed as Molly stared speaking again.

Roxy stuck her tongue out at her and pulled out her books, grinning.

"Is there something amusing, Roxanne?" Teddy asked, walking past her back towards his desk, "Because I don't see anything worth laughing about."

Rose snorted loudly, and only Roxy could see that Teddy was supressing a smile.

Apparently deciding that that was as far as he was going to go that lesson, he turned around to the class, thanked Molly for her explanation and told the class where to find the ingredients they needed.

"You have forty-five minutes." He said, smiling, "And there's a prize for the best potion."

Roxy headed over to the store cupboard, wondering if it had just been the time he had spent with her that had brought him back to normality, or if he was actually just drugged up on cheering charms.

Rose met her there and gave her a suggestive wink, which somehow led to Rose tripping over backwards into a pile of spare cauldrons.

"Roxanne, Rose!" Teddy yelled across the classroom. "Detention. That's very dangerous behaviour."

Rose was wearing a knowing smile as Roxy hauled her to her feet.

"I don't know what you're smirking about." Roxy muttered, "You said he wasn't going to give me a detention."

"Ah, but Roxy my friend," Rose slung an arm around her shoulders, "That was before I knew what kind of potions we were going to be making this lesson." She winked.

Roxy was left stood in the middle of the classroom, bright red and frantically shaking her head at Rose's retreating back.

_Ignore her, Roxy. She's just being a prat._

Roxy silently agreed and carried the ingredients over to her desk, where she was sat beside Lorcan.

"Hey, Roxy," Lorcan said quietly, "Are you alright? I've been meaning to talk to you for a while, but I just never got the chance."

She smiled, pleased at his concern for her. "Yeah, cheers Lorc, I'm great."

Lorcan eyed Teddy warily, "He's not bothering you, is he? I mean, none of us were ever really sure if you two were ever together."

She looked down and nodded, "Yeah we were… are. I mean, it's not like that but… I care about him. Y'know?"

Glancing at him sideways, she couldn't exactly read the expression on his face. He didn't look happy though.

Ever since they were kids Lorcan had been extremely overprotective over the people he cared about. Roxy didn't know him all that well, but his Mother, Luna, was good friends with Harry. She had seen him on the few Christmases they had spent together at the burrow. Having nothing else to go on, she interpreted his mood to be protective, and gave him a friendly smile.

"How are you though?" She asked, "I haven't spoken to Lysander for a while."

Lysander; Lorcan's identical twin brother. The two were inseparable, and although they weren't pranksters like George and I had been, they still had a big reputation in the school.

Lorcan shrugged, "He's ok. I guess we're just a bit stressed out over our exams."

For a second I felt a pang of jealousy. I had forgotten what it was like; to be able to refer to myself as 'we', being so close to George that we shared opinions and problems, and everyone knew us as 'Fred and George'. Never 'Fred' and 'George', that was too separate for what we were. Always together. It was then I realised just how much I missed him. I might be able to see him whenever Roxy did, but it was still different. We weren't twins any more. We were just old friends who had changed far too much to ever be able to be close again. I felt terrible for George as well, because to him, I'm dead. I've been gone for years, and every day he has to wake up knowing that I'm not there. I know that if it was me, I would never be able to deal with it; I'd have been quick to kill myself rather than face a life without him.

Roxy realised what I was thinking and looked away from Lorcan, "Well that's great to hear, Lorc. I'm sure you'll both do fine in your exams, try not to worry so much."

He must have realised how distant she had become, and simply nodded, turning back to his work and carrying on in silence.

_I'm sorry, Roxy. You can talk to him if you want._

_Not if you aren't ok with it. You don't have to suffer for me, Fred._

If I'd had eyes, I would have rolled them. My stupid, brilliant family, all Gryffindors, and Gryffindors for a reason.

The lesson passed quickly, and Molly, of course, was awarded the prize for best potion.

Roxy was leaving when Teddy called her and Rose back.

"Don't think I've forgotten about your detention." He said sternly, "And I need to talk with you two anyways."

Sighing and exchanging nervous glances, the two filed back into the room and stood in front of Teddy as he perched on the edge of his desk.

"Firstly," He said quietly, flicking his wand towards the door causing it to swing shut, "I need you two, especially you Rose, to stop the silliness."

Roxy looked down.

"It was hard enough getting my job back without you two carrying on like this. Do you know how much work me, Harry, Ginny and Gran have put into getting me back here? Are you going to ruin it for them and me?"

I thought that Roxy was about to cry. Guilt filled her and a small tear rolled down her cheek.

"Hey, Roxy, what? Don't cry. Why are you crying? C'mon, it's not-" He sighed, walked over to her and put an arm around her, "Why are you crying? You don't have to feel guilty, don't be stupid. I love you, stop worrying."

She sniffled and hugged him back. "Sorry, Teddy."

He rolled his eyes, "Didn't I just tell you not to worry?"

"Sorry."

He chuckled and kissed her forehead.

"Hey! Excuse me!" Rose said from just behind them, waving her arms in front of their faces. "If you two need a room, then Teddy's office is just through that door. But can I go? We're already late for dinner. " She grinned cheekily, "I suppose you two have dinner planned already though."

Roxy grimaced, pulling a disgusted face and moving away from Teddy.

"You are disgusting, Rose. Leave us alone." Roxy muttered, blushing.

"What?" Teddy asked, looking between them confusedly, "I don't get it, what's-? What?"

"Ignore her, Teddy, she's just being gross. So, our detention?"

I decided that there was no point in even trying to understand girls. How do they do that? Just read each other's minds or something.

Teddy sighed, "Forget the detention, but there'll be a weeks-worth if you two don't work extra hard next lesson."

Rose giggled, and Roxy rolled her eyes.

_What?_ I asked, _Why is that funny?_

Roxy supressed a giggle, _Extra hard?_

_Jesus Christ. If your parents knew what you lot were really like…_

She laughed and turned back to Rose. "Come on, we should go before you run out of innuendos to make. I'll see you later Teddy."

He waved them off with a smile.

"Rose," Roxy sighed as they walked, turning to Rose and raising her eyebrows, "Would it be too much to ask for you to just this once leave my love life alone?"

Rose smirked, "Never."

The Great hall was still packed when they arrived, with students only just finishing their main course. Roxy took a seat down next to Lily, who didn't look up. Rose followed her and sat down between them.

"Oh, hey Rose," Lily said pointedly, "You alright? How come you're late?"

Rose shrugged, "We just had potions; Teddy wanted to talk to us."

Lily snorts, glaring at Roxy for a second, "Figures. 'Course Teddy wants to talk to _her_."

Roxy gasped and nearly spat out her drink. "What?" She asked, "Lily what are you on about? Why are you being so-?"

"Being so what, Roxy?" She asked offensively, glaring, "You think I have some sort of problem?"

"Being perfectly honest; yes. What's wrong, Lily?" Roxy put her hands up to show that she wasn't out for a fight, and tried desperately to figure out what could have happened.

Lily jumped to her feet angrily, dropping her cutlery with a clatter and jumping backwards, "Wow, Roxy, at first I thought it might just be because of what's happened to you, but turns out you really are just stupid. Well, maybe when you ruin Rose's parent's marriage too she can explain to you why I'm so pissed off." And with that she stormed from the room.

Roxy lent forwards and put her head in her hands, "What have I done?"

"Nothing Roxy, it's not your fault. She's just too angry to think straight, she'll come around." Rose muttered reassuringly, rubbing her back.

"Come around like James has?" Roxy asked, glancing over at him and seeing that he, too, was glaring at her. Albus was no-where to be seen, but she guessed that he would be the same.

Rose sighed, and looked down at the table, "It'll be alright, you know." She said gently, "You'll figure something out. And anyway, Harry and Ginny are meant to be together, sure they have their rough patches, but they're always ok in the end."

"When did you get so wise?" Roxy joked, trying to look as if she had cheered up, "C'mon, let's just eat."

* * *

><p><strong>((Edited as of 0807/2012))**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

The return to the common room after dinner didn't bring any more happiness. Lily sat in a corner clutching a book and glaring at Roxy ferociously. Even as Rose tried to push her up the stairs to her dorm James stood up and stared, fists clenched.

"Rose," He nodded as she walked past, making a point to ignore Roxy. "What's up? You want to come for a game of quidditch later?"

It was obvious that Roxy wasn't invited.

"Maybe later," Rose shrugged, "I'm not really in the mood at the moment."

Roxy would usually have been grateful to her, but she was too worried and distracted today.

A thought suddenly crossed her mind. "Hey, Rose, it's ok. You go play quidditch." Roxy said quietly, stopping and turning back to face the portrait hole. "I have to do something."

"What? Ruin someone else's marriage?" James muttered under his breath, and he had no idea how close he was to getting slapped.

Shaking her head, Roxy almost sprinted off out of the portrait hole and down the corridor, already trying to get her mind to form the right words to comfort Harry.

* * *

><p>A week passed and there was no reply to Roxy's owl. Harry was either too sad, too caught up in work or too angry to reply.<p>

Roxy tried to talk to Lily and James, but it seemed like there was no point. Neither of them would listen to her.

At least Albus was being a little more cordial, even if at first he was just as hostile as the other two. At dinner he sat next to her and gave her a small smile.

"Hey Roxy," He muttered, avoiding her eyes, "I… I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for being so horrible to you. And I'm sorry for James and Lily as well. It's not your fault what Dad did, and he probably deserved what he got. All you ever did was try to fix them back together." He stuck out his hand and grinned, "I'm sorry for being such a dick. Are we ok now?"

Roxy took it, astounded, "Albus of course it's ok! I'm just glad one of you is talking to me again." She paused, "And Albus, Harry didn't cheat. He hasn't done anything wrong. Please don't hate him."

Al shook his head. "Sorry, Roxy, it doesn't work like that. You're a girl, I know you'd like to think that everybody gets a happy ending, but it doesn't work like that. Sometimes people can be suckish. And sometimes suckish people do suckish things." He smiled sadly and started to eat. "At least Mum has a chance of finding somebody decent now."

"Albus!" She gasped, grabbing his arm, "No, please listen to me, it's-"

She was cut off by Professor Grimble walking into the Hall and calling for silence.

"Can I please see Roxanne Weasley, James Potter, Albus Potter, and Lily Potter in my office, immediately?" He looked grim, and even though Roxy couldn't feel it yet, I could tell that there was something wrong. Really, really wrong.

She stood up next to Albus and started off after Grimble, trying to ignore the glowers from James.

Lily, however, was more direct.

"What have you done this time?" She asked viciously, walking straight up to Roxy and scowling deeply. "I swear if you've done one more thing to hurt my family I'll kill you."

_Roxy don't._

"Listen Lily, I didn't mean to hurt anyone. Well don't think I'm not just as upset by this as you are. It was an accident. Please listen to-"

"Just as upset as me?" Lily almost shrieked. They were past the hall now and there weren't any other students around to overhear. "I don't think you quite understand what you've done Roxanne."

_Roxy please don't get into a fight._

"Just because you don't care about anyone but yourself doesn't mean that no-one else does! I don't give a fuck if you think your life is hard, just because your parents have had one stupid argument, maybe you should try being me and then see how good your life looks from over here."

Lily backed up for a second and then shook her head, "Don't you dare try and play the sympathy card with me, Roxy. I'm not going to fall for it. Everyone else might have you down as the poor little pregnant girl who's just a little innocent victim and is so scarred she can't help anything she does, but not me! I know what you are! You're a family destroyer! Now just leave us alone! You're not wanted here! No-one wants you; not your Dad, and not mine!"

Roxy stopped walking.

That was too much. It was way too far. How could she say any of that? Did she not realise what had happened to Roxy? What she had been through? Rage seethed through me and I reached out, ignoring all of Roxy's silent cries and punching Lily straight in the face.

It looked like I wasn't the only one with that idea. From her other side Albus had reached out and slapped her at exactly the same time as I had.

And at exactly that moment Professor Grimble rounded the corner behind us, having left the Hall.

"Roxanne! Albus!" He bellowed angrily, pulling up behind them, "That is no sort of way to behave, I-"

For some reason she just cut off and stared at them all blankly.

"Alright," He nodded, eyes going soft, "My office, now."

That was strange; I'd never seen Grimble acting like that before; he just lost all of his rage in an instant.

Lily looked pale despite the red marks forming where hands had made contact with her face. She was practically gawking at Roxy and I could see something that might be a tear in the corner of her eye.

There was a moment of silence, and then they followed Grimble up to his office.

Lily tried to catch James' arm, but he pulled away roughly, a way I'd never seen him act towards Lily before. She let out a small whimper and followed behind the rest of us, her head down and looking pathetic.

_Roxy are you ok?_

_I can't believe- I can_'t believe_ she said that. What the hell is her problem?_

I was tempted to give her the obvious answer, but I managed to keep my mouth shut.

_Roxy she's scared, lonely, and miserable. Scorpius is away, her parent's marriage is ruined and now she's just come out with that. How do you think she's feeling?_

_A damn sight better than I am. _She retorted, and I decided that it was best to just not bother.

Grimble's office wasn't empty when we arrived. Angelina and George were stood in the centre of the room. Both looked pale.

Albus, James and Lily were directed towards three chairs whilst George took Roxy's arm and led her over towards the fire, handing her a fistful of floo powder and frowning, not saying a word.

"Mum, Dad, what's-?"

"No, Roxy." George cut her off, nudging her forwards towards the fire. "St. Mungo's. Let's go."

"But- What-?"

"Roxy go."

Shaking her head, more worried than ever, she stepped into the flames and threw down the floo powder, mumbling "St. Mungo's." and trying to get the look on George's face out of her mind.

She exited the fire and into a white room lined with fireplaces, presumably just used to connect the hospital to the floo network. George was a few seconds behind her and put a hand onto her shoulder, using the other to brush dust off the front of his work suit.

"Dad, are you going to tell me what's going on?" she asked, looking up at him and trying to catch his eye.

He wasn't looking at her.

"We need to have a talk." He said curtly, "And we're going to see Ginny."

"Ginny? Why is Ginny in the hospital? What's happened?" The panic in Roxy's voice was evident, but unlike usually, when the faintest sign of her getting upset had George terrified, he was calm, although still not looking her in the eye.

"Harry has been hurt in a raid on your… attackers. All of them are now captured but unfortunately Harry- Well, you'll see." He glanced up and their eyes met, and the tears in Roxy's were plain to see. "Look, Roxy." George said pointedly, "We need to have a talk, and it's not going to be pleasant, but it has to be done."

A talk? Roxy backed off, more worried than ever. A talk meant that they wanted answers; answers that Roxy couldn't give to them without causing them unbearable pain. She had seen the look on Ron's face when he found out. And on George that would only be a thousand times worse.

_What do we do? What do we do?_

_First thing, Roxy, is we don't panic. Do not panic. We have to think this through. Is it more important for them to know, or for them to be happy?_

Her eyes filled with tears.

_I don't know, Fred. You tell me. You're supposed to be the adult. You're supposed to tell me what to do!_

I paused, and thought for a minute. We didn't have long, and in the back of our mind there was a constant gnawing worry about Harry, but I couldn't think. What could I say to Roxy? What could Roxy say to them? I know I was supposed to be the adult, making the decisions and telling her what to do, but I've never been exactly the world's greatest thinker, and George was the one that made tough decisions, not me, but how could I tell her what to do? What if I got it wrong and ruined everything?

_Roxy, I just… _I paused, and tried to look for the right way to phrase it. _I don't want us to be turned into some kind of circus act. It's not fair for either of us to have to go through any of this, least of all you, but- I don't want to lie to them anymore._

As it turned out, we didn't have a choice in the matter, because when we arrived at Harry's hospital room, we found Ron, Bill, Charlie, Percy, and Ginny, who was sat on a chair beside the bed was clutching at the book. The stupid, stupid Flamma Dego book.

"Roxy…" Ginny's voice was quiet, and she sounded distant, breaking off every few seconds to glance back at Harry's pale face. "Roxy we know."

For a second, terror and adrenaline consumed me, and I was almost trembling with excitement. All of the Weasley siblings, reunited, and finally knowing that they were; It didn't look like the other's shared my ecstasy though.

Roxy didn't move. She stood still, her hands by her sides, a few silent tears dribbling down her cheeks.

Ron was the first to speak.

"It's alright, Rox. You don't have to cry, no-body's going to do anything stupid. We've sat down and we've talked, and we-" He shrugged. "Well we still have no bloody clue what we're actually going to do, but we're not going to cry. No-one is going to treat you any differently, and nobody apart from us has to know if you don't want them to. This isn't about us or our feelings. This is about what's best for you and-" He paused and gulped, "Fred." The look of pain on his face as he said my name was evident, and I wished I could have talked to him, or done something to show him that it was ok. I just didn't know how.

"R-Roxy…" Ginny looked at us and I noticed her squeezing Harry's hand tightly. "Can we talk to him? Is that- Is that possible?"

The dejected, nervous look in her eyes made her look almost shy, and if Harry had been awake he would surely have winced at just how tightly she now squeezed his hand.

Roxy took a step forwards and nodded, biting her lip and looking down at the floor.

_Do you want to do this?_ She asked cautiously.

_No. They'll only be hurt more when I go. I want to, but I can't. Tell them… tell them sorry._

"He says no." She blurted out, avoiding everybody's eyes. "He says he's sorry."

George let out a low moan and clenched his fists, "Please Fred, why? I need to- We need to-"

A tear overflowed from Roxy's right eye and rolled slowly down her cheek. It wasn't Roxy's tear though. I didn't know or care where she had gone off to.

"George, I'm sorry." I muttered, looking up at him, and taking a step closer. "Things are different."

There was a gasp from all of them. Roxy's voice, although still at the same pitch, was completely different. Her accent had changed, and there was no doubt whatsoever between anyone in the room that it was me now. I couldn't be sure, but I think I was even standing with a different posture than Roxy usually did.

"Do you not even care about us anymore?" George burst out bitterly, taking a step forwards, a few tears flowing and clenching his fists angrily, "I suppose that suits you doesn't it? You're just-"

Percy grabbed his hands and pulled him off to the side, murmuring things I couldn't hear and holding him as he began to cry.

I was utterly shocked by his anger. What had I done? We had never fought, not even once, and now all of a sudden he was so angry. What happened?

Ron stepped forwards and put and arm around my shoulders, speaking in a gentle voice, the same one he might have used to comfort an upset kid, "Look Fred, you don't have to talk to us if you don't want to, but it's just-"

"Ron don't." Bill cut in sharply, "He's not a child. He's Fred. If he thinks- I mean, if he doesn't want to talk to us then that's up to him." He nodded at me, although he looked just as miserable as the rest of them.

This was wrong. It wasn't supposed to be like this. This was the grand reunion of the Weasley siblings, it was meant to be happy, full of laughter and, yes, tears, but this wasn't right: Bill and Charlie both looking so uncomfortable, Ginny crying, Percy comforting and angry George, and Ron just being… Ron.

I shrugged myself out from under Ron's arm and walked slowly to where Ginny sat, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Please don't cry, Gin. You'll be… you'll be ok."

She sobbed harder and let go of Harry, wrapping her arms around me and crying into my shoulder. It has to be hard for them. They know I'm me but they can't see past Roxy.

_Roxy please, I can't do this. You have to do this._

There was no answer.

_R-Roxy?_

She didn't reply again.

"Roxy?" I asked once more, speaking aloud without realising it, "Where are you? Roxy!"

I looked around in desperation and found George's eyes. His mouth was half open and he looked horrified. How much did they all know? Did they know about-?

Apparently so. George took two steps forwards and then collapsed to his knees, reaching out to me with one hand.

"George, I'm- I didn't think- I didn't know it would- I swear I-" The words came out as a horrified gasp, and I pulled away from Ginny and bent down, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and crying with him; crying for Roxy, crying for me, crying for him. "I'm sorry George." I mumbled softly into his shoulder, "I'm sorry for being such a crap twin."

George sobbed a little louder, and then hugged me tightly, "N-No, Freddie." He choked, "You're not. You're not a crap twin, you're- you're the best twin, because you came back. You came back for me, and you're here, and we'll find Roxy and I-" He stopped and pulled away, looking me straight in the eyes, "I love you, Fred."

I looked straight back at him, not even blinking, because I knew we were probably never going to get a moment like this again, "I- I love you too Georgie."

He lifted up a hand and wiped away one of my tears, smiling in a pained way.

We embraced again, both of us crying into each other's shoulders, and then suddenly Ginny's arms were around us, then Ron's, Bills, Percy's, Charlie's, and I thought, _Yes. This is what it's supposed to be like. Here, together, the Weasley siblings, all as one._

And then Roxy screamed.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh the feels!<strong>  
><strong>Going back through this chapter and realising that I've brought Professor McGonagall back from the dead. Glad I spotted that one, actually :**

**((Edited as of 08/07/2012))**


	17. Chapter 17

**Beloved**

**Chapter 17**

I didn't know what was happening, one minute there was just us, and then Roxy was there, screaming and screaming and screaming. I couldn't tell if it was inside my head or if everybody else could hear it too. It hurt, and for a minute or so I couldn't think, I just needed to get the noise out of my head. I rolled away from the others, clutching my head in my hands and I was sure that if Roxy wasn't screaming aloud, then I was. The pain was unbearable, it was like knives or fire, and it just wouldn't stop. What made it even worse was that Roxy was there and she could feel it too and it _hurt_.

The others were panicking, I couldn't tell what they were saying exactly but George had his arms around us and was yelling something. More people entered the room and there was another pain, a sharp prick in my arm, and everything started to go blurry, the screams subsiding.

"Shh, it's okay, you're just going to sleep, don't-" George hugged us into his chest, stroking Roxy's hair.

I couldn't believe it; somebody had sedated us. Roxy was screaming, so terrified, and they were just going to shut her out. What about helping her? What about making things okay? I struggled to keep my eyes open, and the only reassurance I had before I collapsed in George's arms was the fact that Roxy's screams had given way to silence.

When we woke up, we could feel somebody clutching at our hand so tightly that it hurt. My first instinct was to find Roxy, but she was there, and she seemed to be the one in control of her body.

_Roxy… Are you okay? _I was so relieved that she was there that in my want to hug her I involuntarily squeezed the person who I presumed to be George's hand.

Roxy swore silently, _Sorry, that was me, I was just-_

She cut off, both of us wondering when we decided to pretend that we were still asleep, if we ever did decide that.

_Yeah, I'm okay. _She carried on, vaguely wondering why George (If it was George) hadn't reacted to us moving._ Where are we?_

_St Mungo's._ I answered. I suppose I could only presume that, but I can't see where else we could be.

_St Mungo's? Why are we here?_

_Don't you remember? Harry was hurt –Trying to catch death eaters, we came here and then he was- Roxy everyone knows._

She paused, _What do you mean everyone knows? What does everyone know?_

_A-about me._

_Okay. _I could feel her trying to calm herself, _Who is everyone. Do you mean everyone everyone?_

_No. My brothers and sisters._

_Okay._

We were quiet for a minute, and then Roxy sat up, opening her eyes.

George was sat on a chair beside the bed, asleep and still holding Roxy's hand. We weren't at St. Mungo's, it was Roxy's bedroom at home.

_Do we wake him? _Roxy asked warily, pulling her hand warily out of his, trying not to disturb him.

I didn't have time to answer though, because instantly George jerked awake, staring around wide eyed, blinking hazily. His eyes settled on Roxy, and he stared for a few seconds, with the air of somebody trying to figure out if he was dreaming or not.

"R-Rox?" He asked, reaching his hand forwards and touching her cheek, "Roxy- Tell me it's-"

Trying not to show her confusion, she smiled at him, "Hey Dad," She said quietly, "What's up?"

That wouldn't have been my choice of words in the situation, but I suppose it was as good as anything.

George made a strangled choking noise and threw himself forwards, wrapping his arms around Roxy and sobbing. Roxy hugged him back warily, a little confused.

"Dad, what's-?"

He shook his head lightly and let out another gently sob, dropping his head down into her shoulder.

"Okay, Dad I need you to tell me what's going on." She said, slowly and calmly, touching his shoulder and pushing him away from her slightly so that she could see his face. "Please."

"Oh Honey…" His face betrayed absolute defeat, and he was on the edge of tears. "You've been out for a week and- And I thought you weren't going to- And then- And it's-"

_I don't like this Fred. What's happening? What's going on? And why is he wearing a suit?_

As soon as that detail had registered with me I made the connection. He was wearing his best suit; a suit only worn to weddings and funerals, and if we had been gone a week…

_It's May 2nd, Roxy. _I told her, my tone of voice gentle. _It's the anniversary of-_

She swallowed, finding George's hand and squeezing it gently. "Do you want to talk to him?" She sounded a lot surer than she felt, and I have to admit that I was afraid. Was talking to George, especially today, such a good idea? He already had so much to deal with and would talking with me really lighten it?

He nodded. Of course he did. I would have nodded if I was him, who could ever possibly have turned down the opportunity to have the first proper conversation with their dead other half, after finding out only a week ago that it was possible. Watching over Roxy must have been torture, because it wasn't just Roxy and more, and I knew that that must scare him beyond belief.

Roxy took her mental step back to leave me stranded, staring at George with my mouth half open, searching for a few seconds for exactly the right words to say, my voice quivering as I began to speak.

"How you feeling, Georgie?"

He paused, and then the flicker of a smile twitched in the corner of his mouth. "Aren't you the one that's saint-like this time?"

I chuckled lightly, and I saw George flinch. It must be odd to hear my old chuckle higher, and out of a different mouth. "You're still Holey though." I grinned, "Hey! I guess that makes us the Holy Spirit."

George laughed, full on laughed, a laugh that reached his eyes and he lent forwards, wrapping an arm around Roxy's shoulders in a way that was much more brotherly that how he would normally hug her. "I've missed you, you know."

I touched his chin gently, "I know. But you understand that I can't stay though. I have to go. It's Roxy's life, not mine."

His eyes flickered, but he nodded. "I know, Freddie. And it's- It's okay." He wiped away a tear quickly, looking away, and I gave back over to Roxy, who lent into her Father's shoulder, one hand resting on her huge stomach.

"He really does love you, you know Dad." Roxy glanced up at him sideways, "He might be too chicken to say it, but it's true."

George laughed lightly again, pulling Roxy in for a proper hug and kissing her forehead. "I know. I know."

* * *

><p>The next few weeks passes eventlessly: We spent the afternoon of that day at Hogwarts, with all of the other faces that were so familiar to me, at the war memorial, and Roxy squeezed George's hand tightly as they found my name carved into the smooth, polished stone. Roxy went back to school, and joked with Rose and her other cousins, none of whom knew anything about me. Teddy and her went for long walks around the lake after dark, seeing as he was still her teacher, and technically, anything going on between them was illegal.<p>

It was early June when Roxy woke up to a sharp pain in her stomach. Whenever she moved it hurt, and also most of the time when she wasn't moving. Trying to stand up but collapsing back onto the bed, she let out a pained grunt, followed by a series of yelps of pain, that awoke her dorm-mates.

Lily woke up instantly, knowing exactly what to do and how to react. She and Rose took Roxy by the arms and led her to the hospital wing, thankfully not having managed to wake up most of Gryffindor tower in the process.

_Fred is this it? Is this it?_

Her mind struggled to deal with the pain and concentrate on me, and as there came another of what felt like a kick in the stomach, she nearly doubled over, wincing.

_I don't know Roxy; let me just think back to the last time I gave birth._

We were both in near hysteria at this point, and the irritable tone in my voice showed. I could see that I wasn't helping her, so I turned my attention to trying to figure out what was going on.

_It doesn't feel like contractions._ I said solemnly, and Roxy hung her head, finally being met at the hospital wing door by Madam Abbot who swiftly gave her a potion that number a little of the pain, and started quizzing her.

We both already knew what it meant though. Something was wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.

Abbot put her hand on Roxy's stomach, seemingly done with the questioning, and the small amount of panic in her eyes was plain to see.

"Alright Miss Weasley, I'm going find somebody to apparate with you to St. Mungo's, where they can assess your condition more accurately. Rose, I need you to go and find Professor Lupin," She cast a small glance at Roxy, "I imagine that he would be your preferred accompaniment. And Lily, would you please run and speak to the Headmaster, tell him that I will need the protective apparition charm lifted in just this room. Please tell him that it's an emergency, and of the utmost importance." She gave them both pointed looks, "_Run_."

Hyperventilating by now, Roxy decided that she was not going to take any more of this crap. She reached forwards and gripped hold of the front of Abbott's robes and nearly snarled. "You are going to tell me what's going on, and you are going to tell me _right now_."

The nurse's expression flickered, and Roxy glared at her harder, in an attempt to stare her down.

"Roxanne, I need you to calm down now." She said patiently, putting a hand on Roxy's shoulder, "There may or may not be a problem with your child. It's possible that this is nothing more than severe pregnancy cramps, but we're going to send you to St Mungo's to get you checked out. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Roxy tried to hide her absolute fear, but it must have showed, because the next minute Teddy had burst into the room, bolting up to us, and on catching sight of Roxy's face, he sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her.

He didn't bother with words of comfort, probably realising that that wasn't what Roxy needed. Looking up at Abbot, his expression was only business like, "Are we good to go yet?"

At that exact moment, Lily bolted into the room, her hand lifted in a thumbs up, and flanked by Freddie, who rushed to Roxy's other side, gripping hold of her arm tightly and levelling his eyes with Teddy. It was obvious that he was coming too, and Teddy nodded to acknowledge this.

"Roxy?" Teddy looked into her eyes, "You ready?"

She nodded, wrapping her arms around her stomach and standing up with him and Fred, holding her breath until she felt her feet hit solid ground.

The pain had reached a point know where it was too much for her to bear, and she shut her eyes, barely paying attention to Teddy as he explained what had happened to the Doctors. Lily must have filled him in as they rushed to the hospital wing, and he seemed to know what he was on about, so Roxy let him talk, blindly putting one foot in front of the other and hoping that somebody would help her sometime soon.

She was conscious of being put down onto some kind of bed, her pyjamas pulled up to reveal her stomach, and she heard the standard, "This will feel a little cold."

Somebody squeezed her hand, probably Teddy, but her eyes were still closed so it was impossible to tell.

_Fred?_

_I'm here Rox. _I replied quickly, giving her a small mental hug.

_I'm scared._

_I-I know, honey._

"Ah. Roxanne, can you look at me please?"

She opened her eyes to find a kindly looking female healer looking at her. "We're going to have to take you into surgery now, okay Roxy?" She said a lot of complicated medical sounding words that Roxy didn't understand, and then shook her head, "Don't worry yourself, it's serious, but nothing that we can't handle. Once the surgery is done you'll have to be on bedrest, and we'll arrange an emergency caesarean at 36 weeks." The healer looked at her for some kind of confirmation, and she nodded. "Okay, first off I need you to sign these and we can get you straight into surgery, okay?"

Roxy practically snatched the pen out of her hand to scribble her name at the bottom of the page; she wasn't going to waste any time.

The healer nodded again, and handed the papers to another doctor, before producing a needle from somewhere and advising Roxy not to look.

Teddy took Roxy's hand and looked into her eyes softly, distracting her from the needle, "You heard that, right Roxy? Everything's going to be okay. You don't need to be scared. We're here. Freddie is owling your parents now and they should be on their way, so we'll all be here when you wake up." He kissed her quickly, "I love you."

She nodded, her eyes drooping ever so slightly, although still gripped by incessant fear. "Lo- Love you too." She muttered.

_Freddie I'm so scared._

_I know. I'm here though, I'm not going anywhere._

_But you will._

A tear trickled down her cheek out of her now closed eyes.

_I know._

Finally everything turned to blackness.

* * *

><p><strong>I really don't know where I'm going with this any more.<br>It's been a long time since I updated last because I haven't been very well, and I swear I'm trying to update faster and more frequently now. As to this story, I made the big mistake of not planning it out to the end when I first started it, so I have no idea what is going to happen at the end, and we are getting closer and closer to the end and I've got nothing.  
>Absolutely zero.<br>And at this point I think I'm just buying for time while updating.  
>Also, I need to give everybody who's ever reviewed, especially on the last few chapters, because the response I'm getting is amazing and especially since I've been ill like I said, it really really has meant a lot to me. I do really appreciate it, and feedback, or possibly a kick up the arse to make me get my act together would be much appreciated.<br>So yeah, I think that's all I've got. I'll be updating Turned to Dust (If anyone reads both, probably not though, either tonight or tomorrow, since it's the holidays now and I should have some time to write) So yeah, I apologise for my lack of updates on that too)  
>I mentioned before, but reviews are really really appreciated, as are any story favourited thingys and everything else. I love you all, okay?<br>Hannah :)**


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